Mepoho: The Story of The Giriama Magic Woman

Mepoho: The Story of The Giriama Magic Woman
Mepoho was a Giriama woman who lived in the 13th century.The Giriama are a subgroup of the Mijikenda, or 9 villages, who largely reside along the the Kenyan Coast.

Legend has it that, one chilly morning, Baby Mepoho was discovered beside a pond near Kaloleni by some women who had gone to fetch water.

They were shocked at the sight of a baby girl wrapped in a Hando ra Musimbiji, a blue cloth traditionally worn by female diviners among the Mijikenda.

The previous night, it had rained heavily and strong winds had raged. Hardly the kind of weather to encourage a person to go out and abandon a new born baby to her fate.

Investigations were made to find a woman whose pregnancy could have come to term in the days before but there wasn’t one to be found.

The mystery thickened when even the women who had found the baby refused to shed any light on the exact circumstances of their discovery. One of them eventually adopted her.

Mepoho, grew up to become a formidable diviner, able to foretell calamities such as drought, famine and floods. In those days, diviners would take part in an energetic dance and begin to prophesy after being possessed by a spirit.

There is still a sacred shrine in Kaloleni which is believed to have been Mepoho’s. It is not clear whether she lived to a ripe old age or not but there is a lingering narrative about her dramatic exit from this world. One day, she asked for Ngoma za Pepo a special spiritual dance to be performed because she had something very important to tell her people.

As she watched, seated on her three legged stool, Mepoho became possessed and began to narrate her prophecy: Strangers with hair as white as sisal would come to the land.

They would inhale unfamiliar leaves for pleasure. The people would see fantastic vehicles on the waters, on the land and in the sky. Young girls would become mothers before their time. Mepoho warned her people that when these things would come to pass, their land would be taken away from them and their culture would be destroyed.

Having come to the end of her prophecy, she told everyone present that she herself was tired and had no desire to be there when these frightful events occurred. It was time for her to leave. The earth opened up beneath her stool and swallowed Mepoho, alive.

The present day site of this fabled happening is the Kaloleni Shopping Centre, close to the Mombasa Bus Terminus.

Mepoho’s legacy lives on:
Mepoho’s prophecy came to pass. Will the warnings of today’s climate scientists come true? Will temperatures rise, droughts and floods increase, polar ice melt, and sea levels rise? Will we be ready for climate change? It’s good to prepare now, by planting drought-hardy crops, keeping storm drains and ditches clean, protecting mangrove forests, and studying science.