₦airaland Forum

Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge (c. 1920 - August 14,
2009) holds the Guinness World Record for being
the oldest person to start primary school—he
enrolled in the first grade on January 12, 2004,
aged 84.[1] Although he had no papers to prove his
age, Maruge believed he was born in 1920.
School time
Maruge attended Kapkenduiywo Primary School in
Eldoret, Kenya; he said that the government's
announcement of universal and free elementary
education in 2003 prompted him to enroll.
In 2005 Maruge, who was a model student, was
elected head boy of his school.
In September 2005, Maruge boarded a plane for
the first time in his life, and headed to New York
City to address the United Nations Millennium
Development Summit on the importance of free
primary education.[2]
Robbery
Maruge's property was stolen during the
2007-2008 post-election violence, and he
contemplated quitting school.[3] During early 2008
he lived in a refugee camp, where he was
reportedly a minor celebrity, four kilometers from
his school, but still attended classes every day.[4]
In June 2008, he relocated to the capital Nairobi.
[5]
In June 2008, Maruge was forced to withdraw from
school and relocate to a retirement home for
senior citizens.[6] However, soon after, on June 10,
2008, Maruge enrolled once again into grade 6 at
the Marura primary school, located in the
Kariobangi area of Nairobi.
Film
A feature film about Kimani Maruge, starring
Oliver Litondo and Naomie Harris titled The First
Grader, was released on May 13, 2011. The British-
produced film was shot on location in the Rift
Valley in Kenya, despite earlier reports that it
would be filmed in South Africa.
Director Justin Chadwick said: "We could have shot
it in South Africa, but Kenya has this unbelievable,
inexplicable energy - inherent in the children, and
the people we were making the film about".[7]
Baptism
On Sunday May 24, 2009, Maruge was baptised at
Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kariobangi and took
a Christian name, Stephen.[8]
Maruge was then using a wheelchair.[8]
Maruge was a widower, and a great-grandfather
(two of his 30 grandchildren attend the same
school). He was a combatant in the Mau Mau
Uprising against the British colonizers in the 1950s.
Death
Maruge died on August 14, 2009 of stomach
cancer, at the Cheshire Home for the Aged in
Nairobi.[9] He was buried at his farm in Subukia.
[10] Source:wikipedia

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The lenght people go to acquire knowledge sometimes make me feel ungrateful to God.

grinface98:
The lenght people go to acquire knowledge sometimes make me feel ungrateful to God.

maruge was so determined to know how to read.. We youths don't know the kind of luck we have and some people still don't wanna make use of the opportunity...

Bunda95:
maruge was so determined to know how to read.. We youths don't know the kind of luck we have and some people still don't wanna make use of the opportunity...

Seriously, we take it for granted way too much

Bunda95:
maruge was so determined to know how to read.. We youths don't know the kind of luck we have and some people still don't wanna make use of the opportunity...

May God help us all

God will help this country...