Puzzle of Mitahato village where everyone speaks French fluently

In 2018, a French bug bit Mitahato, a village nestled in the heart of Githunguri Sub County of Kiambu County.

Six years later, Mitahato has undergone a remarkable transformation and everyone speaks fluent French.

A visit to Mitahato revealed an unusual and captivating sight. As you stroll through the village, you hear children as young as four years old, youths, women heading to the river to fetch water and even the vendors selling fresh vegetables, all speaking French.

It is a scene unlike any other, where locals effortlessly converse in a language typically associated with France and other Francophone nations.

The village, especially during the dry season, takes on a dusty, arid look. But its linguistic transformation sharply contrasts with the usual image of a rural life in Kenya.

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Last week, the village hosted a delegation from the French Embassy which came to donate French books and other reading materials.

The event was conducted entirely in French, including poems, dances, skits, songs and even speeches. Woe unto anyone who didn’t understand French as it has now become the heart and soul of communication in the village.

The village is adorned with flags from 93 countries worldwide, each representing a member nation of the Francophone community.

The display symbolizes the deep and vibrant connection Mitahato has forged with the global Francophone family.

The story of how Mitahato became a French-speaking village began with Chris Mburu. One day, Mburu visited his British friend, Doune Porter, whom he had worked with at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.

She lived in small town in France called Die (pronounced as Dee). Mburu was excited because, somehow Die resembled Mitahato, with almost same population of 3000 people.

Inspired, Mburu promised to make his village speak French back home in Kenya. “You know what, l wan’t to convert my home into a French speaking village,” he told Ms Porter.

Clear vision

Although no one believed his seriousness, Mburu had made up his mind.

“Having worked in the international space, l discovered French is a very important language. It has the power to open eyes, minds, opportunities and new frontiers for young people of Mitahato.”

Born and raised in Mitahato in a very poor family, Mburu, like many of his peers then, had no clear vision for his future.

Today, he credits education as the great equalizer for making him go beyond his village. Mburu is a professional advocate with a Master’s degree from Harvard Law School.

He returned home and converted an old house he grew up in into a library and named it Mitahato French Village. He painted it in both Kenyan and French flag colours.

He then invited French-speaking friends from the UN office in Nairobi’s Gigiri to a goat eating ceremony and inaugurated the library, cutting the ribbon at a time when there wasn’t any single book inside.

The library was later officially launched by the former Ambassador of France to Kenya Aline Kuster-Menager on October 30, 2020 after putting some books in it.

At work, Mburu reached out to French-speaking friends and colleagues who donated books and other resources.

In 2021, covid-19 struck and children were sent home from school. Unsure of what to do with their children, parents asked them to go study at the library they had seen Mburu establish.

They started attending the library, unfortunately, they couldn’t understand French.

Mburu enlisted a youth who had learned French to teach the children, starting with songs and poems. The library quickly became a community hub for children, with over 100 attending regularly.

Once in a while, Mburu excited the devoted children, providing them with mandazi and tea, which they enjoyed.

Initially, locals didn’t understand the importance of French as they associated it with going to France, not knowing that many other countries also speak French.

“Learning French is about discovering a big part of the world. There are many French-speaking countries even in Africa,” Mburu, the founder of Francophone Network of Kenya (FNK) explained.

French lessons at the library are free and many schools across the country visit to learn language.  

Josephat Njihia teaches French, which he learned in 2019. He toured DRC Congo and Burundi where he specialized in his French career.

Upon return, Njihia was employed as a French teacher at Mitahato Primary, teaching Grade Three to Seven.

“I am a beneficiary of the French language. Initially, l didn’t even know what l wanted to do. Children love French, especially Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners have picked it up well,” he shares, adding that, children are particularly drawn to French because they want to stand out with an extra language.

Apart from classwork, Njihia also teaches French online, where he has built a client base of tens of learns, including children and adults.

Caroline Nyakio, a student at SSP Embu shared her excitement about learning French. She explains that apart from her local language, Kiswahili and English, she now understands and speaks fluent French.

“French can be a source of employment opportunities across the world,” she says.