By Roy Lumbe 

1935! Ask anyone and they will tell you that is along time ago. Exactly, how long ago? 

Well, actually, a full four years before WW2 broke out and retired President Moi was a nine-year-old boy. Yes, that long. 

That’s when MbuguaThang’wa was born. But unlike most octogenarians—and many folks of far less ‘-narians’—Thang’wa is yet to exhibit symptoms of feeble muscle. But how would he? 

The fruit farmer’s day starts at 5am with a work-out at his home-made gym. He then attends to his rabbits before moving to the farm where he personally carries out the necessary activities of the day. 

“I have most kinds of fruits in my three-acre farm and people ask my secret for long healthy living. I take traditional herbs and white meat on a daily basis,” he says in a revelation that is likely to raise a number of uncomfortable eyebrows 

He also cycles a lot “to strengthen my joints and bones” and has never tasted alcohol.

“I have never taken booze in my life which I believe is the cause of many vices in the society. Alcohol is just something to be avoided,” he adds. 

In his hey-day, Thang’wa worked for a White settler, who ran a fruit farm in Githunguri, Kiambu county. He deployed the experience to his farm on which fruits of various kinds—including strawberry, guavas, apples and oranges—thrive. 

He has also instilled a culture of afforestation in the area over a span of five decades which has transformed fortunes of residents who are now reliant on their produce. 

“Work hard and do good to humanity, you will go far and live long,” says the former environmental activist during President Jomo Kenyatta’s reign. 

“I planted a lot of trees and it is saddening to see how the environment has been neglected,” he says.  

He ascribes to traditional religion, saying other deities were a means for Western colonisers to get a foothold into and exploit Africa. He prays to his Kirinyaga deity.

*Thang’wa claims to have been born in 1918—101 years ago— but registered for an ID with 1935 as year of birth to evade colonial harassment.