DEATH ANNOUNCEMENT
JOSPHAT MWITI KIAMBI
“Mwalimu”
12 March 1958 – 5 November 2026
Head teacher who built Gitimbine's classrooms and taught three generations to read
With humble hearts we announce the passing of Mwalimu JOSPHAT MWITI KIAMBI, retired Head Teacher of Gitimbine Primary School, on 5th November 2026 at Meru Level 5 Hospital. Husband to Jacinta Kawira; father to Linda, Brian and Eunice; father-in-law to Dennis and Mercy; grandfather to seven; brother to Mama Karambu and the late Silas. Family and friends meet daily at Gitimbine, Meru, at 5.00 pm. Cortege leaves Meru Funeral Home on Thursday 19th November at 8.00 am for a funeral service at MCK Gitimbine Parish, then burial at the family home. M-Pesa Paybill 408226, Account MWALIMU. Rest in peace, Mwalimu.
The bell at Gitimbine Primary School was rung by Mwalimu Josphat Mwiti Kiambi for thirty-four years, and for most of them he rang it himself. Parents set their watches by it. Pupils who had once run late to its sound grew up to become nurses, engineers and county officials, and many of them returned this month to say that his bell is the reason they are on time for everything.
He was born in 1958 in Imenti North, the first son of a miraa trader and a mother who taught Sunday school. A bursary took him to Kaaga Boys, and from there to Kenyatta College for a diploma in education, where he first met his wife Jacinta at a Methodist youth fellowship. He started teaching at Gitimbine in 1984 and became head teacher in 1993, when the school had four classrooms with iron-sheet walls and a leaking roof.
By 2010 it had eleven classrooms, a library and a borehole, built through harambees he led from the front, carrying stones on his own shoulders. He believed every child could read by Standard Two, and he sat on a stool in the corridor with the slowest readers every lunchtime until they could. His classroom rule was simple: nobody laughs at a mistake.
After retiring in 2018 he farmed bananas and tea, served as a steward at the Methodist church, and chaired the board of a village polytechnic. He loved Harambee Stars, strong tea with milk and long walks with his grandchildren along the Gitimbine ridge. He died at Meru Level 5 Hospital on 5 November 2026 after a brief illness.
He leaves his wife Jacinta, three children and seven grandchildren, and thousands of former pupils.
“Nobody laughs at a mistake in my classroom.”