50-Plus Couple Finally Finds Love, Gets $30,000

Excited Peers and friends sorround Mr. Leonard Mungai and Ms. Catherine Wachira, a 50- plus couple who have decided to tie the knot after many years of singleness during their prewedding party held in Braintree, Massachusetts.Many members of the kenyan Community in Boston turned out for the event and helped raise over 30,000 towards the wedding planning. pic by H Maina/ Ajabu

By Harrison Maina
BRAINTREE, Mass., April 8, 2009. - Catherine Wachira, a 50-plus-year-old Kenyan woman, popularly known as Mama Bob (Bob’s mother) in the Kenyan Community in Boston has spent all her life serving others.

Since she migrated to Boston from Kenya 11 years ago, she has logged several hours every week listening and helping solve problems of Kenyans in Massachusetts and other states.

Wachira is a devout Christian and has been attending Glad Tidings Church in Quincy, Mass,. for several years. She is also an active member of several Christian groups in the United States, including Kenya Christian Fellowship in America, where she has been a moderator and facilitator of single parents’ workshops.

She has also been a pastor at the the Glad tidings church in quincy and has mnistered in various other kenyan churches .

A mother of two young adults, Wachira has been single for 25 years. She lost her partner in a road accident in 1984.

Over the years, Wachira’s altruistic acts have earned her many admirers in the community. Those followers came together last Saturday to throw her a big pre-wedding party and raised $30, 303 to help pay for her upcoming wedding to a Rev. Leonard. K. Mungai, a Kenyan pastor based in Michigan, also in his 50s. Rev. Mungai is also a father of four married adults and has been single for a couple of years.

The soon-to-be newly weds were also treated to sumptuous food and a variety of music.

Several elated youths who have received guidance from Wachira over the years, friends and middle-aged men and women, who had once given up on finding love streamed into the Knights’  of Columbus Hall  in Braintree, Mass., in large numbers hours before the  event kicked off.

The future bride and groom arrived at the hall a few minutes before the event started and met an overjoyed crowd.

Rev. Mungai drew laughter and applause from the audience when the emcee Amos Wangombe, asked him how to introduce his soon-to-be wife.

“Lady Kathy,” he responded.

Wachira immediately fired back and introduced her soon-to-be husband as Rev. Mungai.

The event attracted several high profile Kenyans, who gave money generously. Apart from the cash support, the Boston Community also gave Rev. Mungai a special gift. 

Mr. Mike Michuki, left, the emcee, watches in disbelief as a baby enters into an open shipping box donated for auction during mama Bob's prewedding party. The baby's dad, right, ahad to solicit for enough money to make sure that the baby got the desire of her heart too , as an event organizer looks on.

 Rev. Mungai and Wachira will wed in Quincy on May 16. at Glad Tidings Church.

Their wedding has not only caused excitement in the Kenyan community in Massachusetts, but also given a beacon of hope to similar Kenyans throughout the U.S. who had given up on the prospects on finding love in their advanced years.

With little social support systems and myriad challenges to confront, hundreds of elderly single Kenyan men and women struggle with loneliness and isolation in the U.S. today.

“If Mama Bob can do it, I can do it, too,” said Jane Chege, a middle-aged single Kenyan woman from Randolph, adding that she hopes to find a man to marry soon.

 In an interview with Ajabu Africa after the event, Wachira said she met Rev. Mungai in 2007 at a Christian Conference in Corpus Christi, TX.

They duo immediately fell in love with each other and have been dating since then.

Wachira encouraged lonely Kenyans in the U.S. not to give up and trust in God, who will send them their perfect mates.

 “Do the right thing, and God will give you the desires of your heart,” she said.

Wachira also thanked the Kenyan community for their support.

“I am so grateful to the Lord and to the people of Boston for showing me true love,” she said. “They are friends in need and in deed.”

Click here for the event's Photos

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