Even in the last hours of his life, Prof Ngugi wa Thiong'o kept on emphasizing the importance of mother tongue and advised members of his community not to forget writing in Gikuyu.
According to Prof Peter Ndiang'ui of Florida Gulf Coast University, Ngugi still had great love for his language despite having settled in America many years ago.
Ndiang'ui, who had spent several hours with Prof Ngugi in the USA before he succumbed, says the iconic professor had challenged him and others from his community to know how to write in Gikuyu. "For a long time, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o invited me, nudged me, dared me to write in Gikuyu, the language of my mother.
Not once, not twice, but with the persistence of someone who knows what is at stake: the soul of a people, the rhythm of memory, the dignity of naming the world in one's own tongue," said Ndiang'ui.
