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By:
HARRISON MAINA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted:
May,23-2016 13:45:41
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MILLIS, Mass.__Doing part of what real Christians are called to do- mourn with those who mourn- the nearly one year old Kenyan community Gateway Presbyterian church in Beverly, near Boston held memorial prayers on mother's day for Betty Karanja, one of the church members who lost a mother one and a half months ago. Betty's mother, the Late Alice Nyokabi Muigai passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 28 in her home at Ruiru Dam, Kiambu Kenya. She was 85 years old. According to Betty, when her mother passed away, she and her family who also live in Boston had to travel immediately for burial which took place on Monday April 4. As a result, there was no time for fitting memorial prayers as per the Kenyan culture. "But when I came back to Boston, my pastor, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Mbagara called me and told me that the church has decided to hold a memorial for my mother. That was so touching to me especially because our pastor was my mother's minister for many years while he was serving in Kenya," she told more than dozens of assembled guests at her apartment in Millis, a few miles south of Boston. "Betty is the secretary at our Gateway Pilgrims church in Beverly.She is very dedicated to serving the church and so we decided to come offer our support to her through prayers and fellowship on this mother's day after she lost her beloved mother in back in Kenya," said Rev. Dr. Mbagara while addressing the mourners.
The pastor said that like her daughter, Betty's mother was also very dedicated to serving the church during her better days before she suffered debilitating health problems. "I knew her mother very well when I was her pastor at the PCEA Elijah Wathika church formerly known as PCEA Kahunira in Kenya. She was a very strict disciplinarian.So if you find Betty tough when dealing with some issues, don't wonder where that came from," said the clergyman to the amusement of those present. According to Betty, the eldest daughter in a large family, her late mother and late father had 10 children in total, two of whom are now deceased. She added that despite having such a large family, her late mother was a believer in education and worked extremely hard in her farming and livestock rearing to educate all her children many of whom went through the University. "Our mother served as a great role model to all of us. She was very humble, hardworking and invested heavily in her children. She also loved the Lord very much. We will miss her dearly," she said. She added that her mother started having medical challenges in 2008 when she was diagnose dementia. Since then, Betty said, her mother has been in and out of the hospital, forcing g the family to hire a caretaker to look after her when at home, while at the same time assisting her take prescribed medication. During the memorial on Sunday that was coordinated by Mrs. Catherine Ngige, other speakers and guests, among them several white Americans, expressed condolences to Kenyan mother of 3 for the loss of her elderly mother. "We are here to mourn with Betty for the loss of her mother and we know she is in Heaven.We wish Betty well," said Albert Anderson an American man who is also a member of the Gateway Presbyterian church.
Anderson, a who is Betty's workmate,caused a light moment at the event when it emerged that he woke up early at 5am to cook popular Kenyan delicacy meal of Ngima (Kikuyu), or Ugali in Swahili, which is a kind of puffed up cornmeal cake for guests. "Yes. It's true I woke up early to cook all this Ngima you are eating," he admitted. Born in 1931 in Gatanga village near Thika town, the late Nyokabi Muigai developed interest in education when very young and started writing on a slate. The then relocated to relocate to Ainabkoi village in the Rif Valley province with her parents to look for greener pastures. She later got married in a traditional African marriage ceremony in 1950 to the late husband, Suleiman Muigai Gaithuru. The family then moved back to Kiambu in the year 1955 where they lived until her husband passed away in 2008.
"My mother was an incredible human being. She was very generous, focused, very articulate and no nonsense woman. She was fearless and she was the glue that held our family together. We will miss her very much," Betty told Ajabu Africa News during an interview. A mother of mother of 3 boys, Betty became windowed in July 2002 after her husband died of cardiac arrest while visiting Boston. He was laid to rest in the nearby city of North Attleboro. Betty thanked the church pastor, members of the gateway PCEA church and friends who came to mourn with her. "It is incredible that all these people took their time off especially during a mother's day like this to come support me. I have no words to express how grateful I feel. My Lord blesses them all." The new Gateway PCEA church is located within the Pilgrim Prebyterian Church located at 300 cabot street, Beverly, MA , 01995. To contact Betty Karanja with well wishes, call: (781)-248-9158.
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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