Githumu Memoirs: Mucina, the Dare Devil.

In 1979, Government officials were invited to Githumu High School to give students National Identity Cards on campus. There was excitement and many students got the IDs. The officials were there for a couple of days. During this time, two students stole some of the ID cards. The police were alerted and investigations commenced. The two students threw the IDs in a pit latrine located on the area near Boys Hostels. They had hoped to conceal the exhibits the same way thugs throw away guns and other items which may incriminate them. Unfortunately or fortunately, somebody reported them and they were summoned to the headmaster’s office. They revealed that they had dumped the IDs into the pit latrine located next to Dorm C.

The two ID thieves were informed that they would have to get the IDs thrown into the pit latrine and return them to the authorities or they would face charges. They were informed that the crime was serious enough to warrant jail time. Somebody had to get the IDs from the latrine.

Mucina was a heavy set student. He came from Ndunyu Chege area of Gatanga Division. He was tall and wore huge shoes. He walked slowly and was known for taking risks. Most of the students would agree with you that he was low functioning. He would walk slowly and talked as if he was shouting most of the times he was in a conversation with fellow students. He said some stuff or did some actions which would have qualified him for special education classes.

Nobody understood why he agreed to take Ksh. 20 from the two ID thieves as payment for getting into the toilet to get the stolen ID cards. The money was promptly given to Mr. Osudwa for safe keeping and was to be given to Mucina upon bringing the IDs. Problem was how to get into the pit latrine which was briefed to have been more than 120 feet deep. It had been used for a while and was located in area which not very dry and so had urine, water and feces. Next to the pit latrine was a shower-room and the possibility of water licking into the pit latrine was there.

Githumu High School High School boys’ section had two types of toilets. There were toilets with the flush and located in a block near Dorm A. They had the toilets which were known as Indian toilets. The ones where you had to squat but were flushable. The A-Levels had their own block with European toilet which allowed one to sit on the basin during their use. Then there were three sets pit latrines which were used when the flush toilets flooded, got blocked or during the times when the block was closed. The pit latrines were rarely used but were open during the day for use by students who could not access the flushable toilets. They were constructed of iron sheets on the sides and on their roof. Their floor consisted of a cemented slab and a tiny hole. One would squat directly on the hole for the biological functions.

With Mr. Osundwa’s supervision, students removed the slab on which the pit latrine stood. A big bucket and long rope were sought. The rope was tied to the bucket and fastened to a tree stump located near the toilet. They got a metal bucket which was large enough to accommodate a student the size of Mucina. He had volunteered to get into the pit latrine in order to look for the identity cards.

Mucina got into the bucket and was slowly lowered into the pit latrine. Four hefty boys held the rope as Mr. Osundwa, two policemen from Githumu Police Station and several students watched. The lowering was carried in the version employed when a casket is lowered down into the grave and final resting place during a burial ceremony. The rope, the bucket and Mucina were slowly released into the pit latrine.

As the bucket went down the pit, Mucina kept on edging the bucket bearers to go on releasing the rope. He was to let them know when he reached the top of the shit. He had a spotlight which he was using to look for the top most part of the shit. The goal was for him to locate the IDs and scoop them from the shit. He would then let the bucket bearer know and they would pull him back to the surface. Problem was that nobody was hearing or seeing him and so it became impossible to get him out of that stinking toilet at his request. The bucket bearers had to figure when it was appropriate or right to get him out of that toilet.

Mucina’s voice diminished as he got lowered down the pit latrine. He was rarely heard as the bucket bearers kept on lowering it further down. It was getting darker and darker as he went down and nobody was hearing his voice or seeing his body or the bucket. The bucket kept on going down and seemed to have reached the top part of the shit. With heavy set Mucina seated inside the bucket, it went further inside the pit into the shit. He was getting buried into the shit, with nobody hearing his voice or seeing his body or the bucket at that time. The bucket bearers didn’t seem to know when to lower him further or pull him up. Apparently Mucina was at that time trying to get the bucket bearers lift him up but in vain.

It was after it took too long to hear a word or get to know where Mucina was that Mr. Osundwa requested the bucket bearers to pull it back. Mucina was almost brought out of the pit latrine when some of the students, including the bucket bearers sighted him.

Two of the three fellows pulling him let the rope go off and took off on sighting the body of Mucina. He was fully covered with shit and nobody could recognize him. He looked like an alien whose body was constructed by human feces. He looked too scary and some people thought they had brought the devil from the pit latrine. The stench emanating from the bucket and Mucina was also too much to bear for the bucket bearers and to the onlookers.

A committed Christian who was one of the three Bucket bearers was left holding on the rope but Mucina was too heavy for him. He was nicknamed Mwokozi (the Savior). Mwokozi decided to hold on the baggage but the rope slipped from his hands, back to the pit latrine and right into the shit again. Mucina and the bucket were again buried inside the shit for the second time. Thanks to the Savior, the rope was still held on his hands and he was able to summon students to return to the burial place in order to save Mucina.

Other students got curious and wanted to know why there was a stampede with the policemen, Mr. Osundwa and the students running away. Some courageous and some curious students went back to the burial place. Others decided to hold a vigil and wait for Mucina to be brought back to earth. It was expected to be resurrection and so the bringing back to life for Mucina. Three more bucket bearers came to the assistance of Mwokozi. They had to be strong and courageous. Strong enough to lift Mucina and courageous enough to withstand a shit covered human being.

Mucina was brought back to the earth for a second time. He was again barely brought back when several students took off on seeing his torso again. Even the Mwokozi later confirmed that he looked worse on his second coming. Once he was removed from that pit latrine and laid to rest but still in the bucket, everybody, including Mr. Osundwa’s and the two police policemen took off again. Mucina was left there alone. Not even the Mwokozi could stand the sight. He was also gone and could only watch Mucina from a distance. The site of Mucina full of shit in a bucket full of shit was a sight which could scare any strong hearted person.

There were maggots walking on Mucina’s face. Some maggots were getting into his ears, some into his mouth and nose with the shit being the only thing standing between the cavities and the maggots. He had maggots and shit all over his body. His clothes were not even visible. His face was also not recognizable due to the fact that he was covered by shit. Watching a rotten dead body would have been less scary.

Mucina had shouted himself horse while inside the pit and that had led to some shit and maggots getting into his mouth. He looked worse than a dead person who has been hit by an 18 wheeler truck. The stench coming from Mucina was unbearable. Not even a mortuary attendant would stand the sight of Mucina. Most people thought he was dead. He was not moving and seems to be dead in a bucket.

Mr. Osundwa requested students to return to the site where the stinking Mucina lay in a bucket waiting for to be helped get out. Students brought basins which they filled up with water and used to splash Mucina. Finally he managed to get up and get a shower. Nobody wanted to be near him, even days after he was came from the pit latrine. Even his neighbors in the hostels abandoned him and slept away from his sleeping space for several days. Nobody ever believed that he would stop stinking. The teacher gave him the Ksh. 20 and it seems the case of the IDs was forgotten by the authorities. May be the policemen gave an account of what happened to Mucina and explained that trying to get the IDs would be futile.

© Kuria Mwangi 2009