MAINA: Lessons from an 11-year-old boy

I work for an interactive children's publication, a platform that has helped me appreciate just how amazing children are. Fortunately, they are more confident, inquisitive and better communicators than I was at their age, the future is indeed bright.

The other day, I encountered an experience that left me amused and very impressed. Every week, we publish a 10-question trivia in a section of the publication. We then ask readers to attempt the trivia and email us a photo of their answers. In the following week we publish the names of the first five children who get the answer correct and they also win some merchandise from the magazine. 

In a recent trivia, I set one of the questions asking how many daughters Gíkúyú and Múmbi had. When the answers came in the following day, most of the pupils got the answers correct for all the questions apart from this one of Gíkúyú and Múmbi. Their answer was nine daughters. I remembered that when I was in primary school, I was also told that they were nine daughters.

As I grew older and read more books, I came to know that Gíkúyú and Múmbi had 10 daughters. In his recently published book, Kenda Múiyúru: Rúgano rwa Gíkúyú na Múmbi, Ngúgi wa Thiong'o explains that the 10th daughter of Gíkúyú and Múmbi was called Wamúyú. When the other nine daughters were ready for marriage, Wamúyú was not of age as she was much younger than them. Some also say that she got a child out of wedlock. 

To be honest, I felt a twinge of sadness marking the answer nine daughters wrong, but at the same time, I recognised this as a learning opportunity. One child actually got the answer correct, I told you they know things I didn't know at their age!
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When we published the correct answers the following week, I received an email that same evening from one of our readers. Our readers are children between the age of 7 and 14 years.

The reader, an 11-year old boy, addressed the email to the editor. He introduced himself courteously and proceeded to request a remark of his answers because according to textbook so and so, page so and so, Gíkúyú and Múmbi had nine daughters. He attached a photo of the book's cover and a photo of the page showing that indeed they were nine daughters. He also signed off at the end of the email.

I was so touched by the way that child expressed his dissenting opinion. The language was polite, and the email actually started with a "Dear Editor…" He went straight to the point and backed his argument with evidence – pictorial evidence. Isn't that amazing?

Let me digress a little here and ask; suppose this boy was your everyday ‘fake-woke’ social media troll? Imagine the backlash that would have flooded my inbox. I am sure buzzwords such as privilege would have featured prominently...
We won't even talk about the crude language that would have compared me to a village broomstick or cooking pan. Of course there would be little or no facts to support the argument. The troll would have provoked me and crossed fingers hoping for a savage reply that is screenshot-worthy. Anything for likes, right?

Back to the child who warmed my heart, I replied by thanking him for his feedback. Next, I presented my reasons for giving that answer and encouraged him to involve his teacher as well so we can all compare notes from different books on the same. Meanwhile, we go with the answer 10 daughters.

The boy was not done giving me hope for the next generation, because after a short while he wrote back and said “Thank you.”

As I smiled ear to ear, I couldn't help but wonder why the tenth daughter is often not counted among the daughters of Gíkúyú and Múmbi. So I am now inspired to read and find out more, especially because I sense a teaching moment on equality and so forth.

This experience, this child who wrote to the editor, taught me that you can disagree without being condescending. You can express your thoughts without attacking the other person's character. And yes, you can present your points while remaining relevant. Such encounters are some of the priceless perks of the job I tell you!

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