Muthoni Kirima: Lovely Pictures of Mau Mau Field Marshall Wearing Her 70-Year-old Dreadlocks with Pr

Muthoni Kirima was a 92-year-old war veteran who joined freedom fighters in the forest during the clamour for Kenya's independence
Muthoni had kept her dreadlocks for 70 years as a silent reminder she and her other Mau Mau counterparts were yet to see the fruits of their labour
On Saturday, April 2, 2022 history unravelled at her Nyeri home after former first lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta shaved her signature locks

After over 70 years, field Marshall Muthoni Kirima finally accepted to have her signature dreadlocks shaven.

Muthoni, the only woman who received the enviable title of field marshall in the Mau Mau, had kept her dreadlocks for 70 years.

In a past interview, she explained that though she was on the frontline fighting for Kenya's independence, she had yet to see the fruits of her labour.

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This is because she, together with her former Mau Mau veterans and their children, were languishing in poverty, dying like paupers, yet they had shed blood and sweat for the nation.

She thus wore the dreadlocks decade in and decade out with pride and as a silent reminder that the government had abandoned Kenya's freedom fighters.

The brave woman previously said that had she not become a cereals trader, she would have been poor like most of her counterparts.

However, history unfolded on Saturday, April 2, 2022, when former first lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta shaved off her dreadlocks in an event held at her Nyeri home.

In the ceremony that brought former Mau Mau legends together, Mama Ngina cut the locks and wrapped them with the Kenyan flag.

The 92-year-old is quoted to have said that she had finally seen the fruits of her labour and could let go of the dreadlocks.

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"I have today agreed to shave my hair. This signifies that am contented that our country has had freedom, at last, generations are now free, what we fought for in the forest during clamour for freedom has finally been achieved,” said Muthoni.

The field marshall lost her husband in 1965, two years after the end of the struggle for independence.

A young Muthoni and her husband had barely started their life together when they decided to join the Mau Mau. Her husband went first to fight, and they would reunite a decade later after the end of the struggle.

However, he died from an illness, and she thus never started a family of her own after the death of her lover. She liked to say that Kenya is her child.

The only recognition she has ever received from the government is a medal she received in 1998 during late former president Daniel Moi's reign.

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Muthoni Kirima: Lovely Pictures of Mau Mau Field Marshall Wearing Her 70-Year-old Dreadlocks with Pr