To many, the white colour on the Kenyan flag symbolizes peace and unity, but to 90-year-old James Kamau, it means much more.
“White for me will always stand for milk. It is the true show of freedom as, before independence, we were not allowed to keep dairy cows,” he said in a shaky voice.
“I am proud of so many things I have done in my life, but nothing gives me the joy more than the fact that I can now keep dairy cows,” he said.
Growing up, Kamau said he watched his father work in a dairy farm belonging to a European and always wished they could keep cows themselves, but it was prohibited.
“I wanted to taste milk so bad that whenever my father asked what I wanted, the answer needed no thinking,” he said.
Though eventually, he got to drink milk many times, he said that he never stopped to attach a premium label to it.
“Milk was white gold, a rarity and a preserve of a few select and us Africans almost never had a chance to drink milk. That is why I am proud of our independence,” he added.
After black, white is his favourite and most significant colour in the Kenyan flag.
Though he holds highly the Kenyan flag having seen the transition from the pre-colonial era, James Kamau attaches a special value to the colour white that makes his eyes light up as he talked about it.
His glowing eyes had started closing in from the edges giving in to the many years it had seen.
The right eye was dripping, but he assured me that he could see clearly.
Kamau, a retired teacher and long-serving civil servant was being feted as a hero on Mashujaa Day, 2021.
He was excited about the recognition and had a long list of achievements he had made.
“I started as a teacher at Mugumo Primary School in 1953 before I was elected a counsellor (Current equal to MCA) in my area,” he narrated.
Kamau said he in Baragwe Location between 1966 and 1968 doubled up as a teacher and a political leader.
“Back then, we were allowed to take up more than one role in civil service. I helped build two bridges in the area one on river Kamweti and another of Biva,” he narrated.
Kamau said he was also the chairperson of the Cooperative Society of Kirinyaga and where he represented the interest of the locals on national and international platforms.
“I had just returned from Slovakia to represent the people of Kirinyaga when the Minister of Education then, Kiano, announced that teachers cannot take up any other government or political positions,” he said.
He added he quit all other roles to remain a teacher where he served as Kirinyaga Primary School headteacher.
“There we founded Kirinyaga High School before I was elected a chief of Baragwe in 1971 where I worked until my retirement in 1986,” he said.
Kamau is also happy to have offered his land to the government where the Kirinyaga Subcounty Hospital currently stands.
“I was compensated for the land but I am still proud to have given out the land that serves to treat so many people,” he added.
Kamau’s shujaa he says is his wife who has given him children as a mark of his existence in this world.
Edited by D Tarus