How Wrong Number Was the Right Call

Nairobi — What started as a mistaken transfer of airtime ended in a colourful wedding. Mr Ibrahim Maina Njuguna mistakenly transferred Sh50 worth of airtime credit to the wrong person from his kiosk in April last year and thought he had made a loss from his business of selling scratch cards.

Little did he know that the “wrong” and expected “loss” would fetch him a wife. Reluctantly, Mr Njuguna wrote a text message after realising the mistake: “Please, the airtime was sent by mistake. Kindly send it back me.” After a while, his phone rang. Ms Janet Waithera had returned the airtime.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Mr Njuguna, 35, who runs his business from a wheelchair. He was paralysed from the waist down by polio when he was only four years old. Wedding Ms Waithera, 28, the woman he had mistakenly sent airtime was the fulfilment of Mr Njuguna’s dream to find a suitable wife.

The two tied the knot at Efatha Healing and Deliverance Ministry Church near Shauri Estate in Eldoret. It all started on April 23, last year, when a customer approached Mr Njuguna at his base opposite Kiptagich House in Eldoret Town, asking for Sh50 airtime.

However, the amount was mistakenly forwarded (sambaza) to a different number. In line with one of Kenyans’ peculiar calling habits, when he talked to Ms Waithera about the phone credit, the trader asked where she was and she replied that she was at home. The home, as he learnt later, was Murang’a – hundreds of kilometres away, and a place he had only heard about.

“This was the first but unknown step of the journey towards getting my wife, Janet,” the beaming Mr Njuguna told the Nation. Janet continued the amazing story in the interview at their Shauri Moyo home. “I received the credit when I was with my mother at about 8pm.”

She and her mother were chatting after a long day at the family shop. It was not long before an sms came through, asking her to return the money she had just received. “At first I refused,” she said, “but later realised that it was not good to keep what was not mine.” It was then that she sent back Sh50 to the caller, now her husband.

From that day, they communicated by telephone for two months. By June, they had become fond of each other. Mr Njuguna proposed that she visit him at his home in Uasin Gishu. Before the visit, he suggested that she send him her recent photograph and he would reciprocate.

“I had told her that I had suffered from polio and was paralysed from the waist down,” he said. “I was surprised she said she did not mind.” After the photo exchange, he decided to pursue the relationship further. He disclosed his intentions to his elder sister, Ms Elizabeth Kibui, who encouraged him.

“He informed me that he was in touch with a woman from Murang’a and whom he wished to marry but did not disclose how they met,” said Ms Kibui. However, he confided the details to his other sister, Ms Peris Nyokabi, who later informed Ms Kibui.

She admitted she thought the meeting was strange and guessed her brother may have feared she would discourage him if she knew the truth. They then informed their mother, who allowed family members to visit Murang’a and get to know Ms Waithera’s family in September.

The bride price was paid in January – two months ago. Ms Kibui said she was full of happiness for the brother. “Our mother has been taking care of him all along, but now it will be different as his wife will take charge,” she said.

Source-Daily Nation