Written by: Sam Kioko

You know what’s an excellent idea? Coming up with a French village, in Kenya and most importantly, in a rural set-up; it’s out of this world! Children of this famous village, Mitahato, are speaking French! Je m’appelle; Comment ça va? ; Je vais bien! These kids are uttering words uttered by people in FRANCE!

A Kenyan Village with an Unusual Dream

First and foremost, the founder is called Mr. Chris Mburu, currently working for the United Nations as the UN Resident Coordinator, in Congo Brazzaville. He is the guy behind this fabulous idea of coming up with a Francophone Village deep in the heart of rural Kenya. He is passionate, energetic and young at heart. His passion for French is immense to an extent of creating a non-profit organization called Francophone Network of Kenya, back in 2018. This francophone network has united many French students and French lovers in Kenya as well as Francophones (people who speak French as natives or use French as their national language).

Gradually, his idea spread and due to his objective of promoting French language in Kenya, Kenyans who are interested in learning and improving their French, got fascinated and joined the Network. As at now, the network has about 600 participants.

Mr. Chris Mburu is an advocate by profession, having obtained his Master’s degree from Harvard Law School. He’s a firm believer of Education and his main agenda is to see the kids of his village, Mitahato, embracing education and having French as an added advantage to their careers. He always says that education is the equalizer and it does not matter your background, whether rich or poor. The reason why he understands the value of education is that he was from a poor background and education was the only way out to eradicate poverty.

When he was younger, he got an opportunity to be sponsored for his early education by a Swedish lady called Ms Hilde Back, who passed away when she was 99 years old. He considers her as his “Swedish Mum”. She inspired them to create Hilde Back Education Fund (www.hildebackeducationfund.org) which has to date sponsored almost one thousand poor children in Kenya. They believe that “EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT”, and this made Mr. Chris Mburu start a French learning project in his village which is, to date, supported by the French Embassy.

Mitahato village is a village like no other. The poor, dusty rural village that lies deep in Kiambu County has secured a place in world history: by becoming the FIRST rural village outside the francophone world to speak French! The children of the village have been learning French furiously benefitting from a library in the village that only carries French books.

How to Learn French Faster by Thinking In Swahili “Mitahato Method”

The Francophone Network of Kenya (FNK) is pleased to introduce to Kenyans a brand new way of learning French. Referred to as " THE MITAHATO METHOD" it is a different way of learning the French Language where Kenyans are encouraged to think in Swahili instead of English, while learning French. The " MITAHATO METHOD" owes its roots to the village of Mitahato, in Kiambu County, Kenya, where it was first noticed that learning French while thinking in Swahili produced faster results in the learners. Mitahato is known as THE FIRST FRENCH -SPEAKING VILLAGE IN KENYA, and its reputation has grown in recent years, as evidenced by a TV documentary shown around the world by France's TV5 MONDE, entitled "Déstination Mitahato" (https://www.tv5monde.com/emissions/episode/destination-francophonie-destination-mitahato-1).

The village of Mitahato is also home to the biggest fully-fledged French Language Library in Kenya outside of the capital city. The library was officially inaugurated on the 30th October 2020, by the former Ambassador of France in Kenya, H.E Ms Aline Kuster-Menager.