Kimani Maruge

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Kimani Maruge or Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge (* around 1920, † August 14, 2009 in Nairobi , Kenya ) became known as the oldest elementary school student in the world.

Life

Kimani Maruge grew up in Kenya in the 1920s. Since he did not have the opportunity to go to school as a child, he was illiterate into old age . In the 1950s he took part in the Mau Mau uprising . Members of the British colonial power killed his wife and a child. He was tortured in different ways. He was u. a. pierced an eardrum.

After the Kenyan government abolished school fees for eight-year elementary schools in 2003 and granted every citizen the right to an education, he enrolled in the first class of a primary school in Eldoret in 2004 at the age of about 84 . His case became known and he was soon considered an ambassador for free education in Kenya. In 2005 he campaigned for the right to free education at the UN General Assembly . The media reported about him worldwide. A German organization donated him a customized hearing aid. According to his teachers, Maruge was a very good student, with the exception of physical education.

In the wake of the unrest in Kenya in 2007/2008 , Maruge was evicted from his home and lived in a refugee camp from which he continued to go to school every day. He then moved to Nairobi , where he lived in a retirement home and was admitted to the 6th grade of a primary school.

He was baptized in Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kariobangi on Sunday May 24, 2009 and took the Christian name Stephen . Maruge had 30 grandchildren.

The motivation for going to school included his desire to read the Bible and his plan to go to high school and then study veterinary medicine. While he learned to read quickly, his study plans went unfulfilled. Due to his stomach cancer , he had to drop out of school in January 2009 as a seventh grader, he died on August 14, 2009 in Nairobi.

Film adaptations

In 2010 the film by Justin Chadwick The First Grader (literally: The first grader , German title of the film: The oldest student in the world ) was shown at the Telluride Film Festival, which tells the life of Maruge; The main characters are Oliver Litondo , Naomie Harris , Tony Kgoroge and Nick Reding . In 2011, the film received the Bernhard Wicki Prize and the DGB Film Prize at the 22nd Emden-Norderney International Film Festival . The documentary film "The First Grader: The True Story of Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge" by producer Sam Feuer was shown back in 2006 .

Web links

Films:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maruge's appearance at the UN General Assembly at spiegel.de , September 11, 2005
  2. ↑ Daily Nation, May 24, 2009: Oldest pupil now seeks to be listed in Book of Life
  3. ^ The Standard, Aug.15, 2009: World's oldest pupil, Stephen Maruge, dies
  4. ↑ The oldest student in the world - film review from on the Internet presence of TV Spielfilm , accessed on September 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Euronews: “The First Grader - You're never too old for school”, May 31, 2011
  6. ↑ National Geographic Movies: "The First Grader," accessed July 31, 2011
  7. ^ "British director clears twice in Emden" , Ostfriesen-Zeitung , June 20, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Maruge, Kimani
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maruge, Kimani Ng'ang'a
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Kenyan student, oldest elementary school student in the world
DATE OF BIRTH around 1920
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 2009
Place of death Nairobi