Bishop Ben Muthee Kiengei wa Watoria delivered on a promise he made four years ago when Ian Karanja Murugi walked across the graduation stage at Kirinyaga University on Thursday, October 8, 2026, clutching a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The moment was years in the making. When Ian first arrived at the university gates, he was accompanied by both Bishop Kiengei and his grandmother, known affectionately as Cucu wa Ian.
The elderly woman made that same journey again this week, only this time she was not dropping off a hopeful young man.
She was collecting a certified nurse, and by all accounts, she was all smiles.
JCM Church education fund
Ian’s education was made possible through the JCM Church education fund, supported by what Bishop Kiengei described as the Sadaka ya Washirika wa JCM, a contribution pool drawn from the church’s compassionate community.
Ian is the third student to graduate under this programme, a milestone that visibly moved the bishop.
“Congratulations in advance, Nurse Ian Karanja Murugi. The legacy is still building itself,” Kiengei wrote on Facebook ahead of the ceremony.
Bishop Kiengei pens congratulatory message
The clergyman, who has been vocal about the church’s mission to invest in education, did not hold back his emotions in the post, reflecting on how the experience had reshaped his understanding of fulfilment.
“I never knew happiness until I began making others happy,” he wrote. “You might not be my biological sons, but your journey has made me a true father. The responsibility was enough strength.”
Perhaps the most touching element of the graduation was the presence of Ian’s grandmother.
Kiambu grandma returns to campus in joy
She had stood beside Bishop Kiengei four years earlier when Ian was handed what the bishop called “a mandate to become.”
Her return to the same campus as a witness to his achievement gave the occasion a deeply personal weight.
For a family from Githunguri, seeing their son complete a degree in nursing represented far more than academic success.
Bishop Kiengei appreciates broader JCM Church community
It signalled a shift in trajectory, one funded by faith, community and the sustained belief of a bishop who chose to act.
Bishop Kiengei credited the broader JCM Church community for sustaining the fund that made Ian’s journey possible, and pointed to scripture as the foundation of that generosity.
“The Bible says clearly that our reward is huge,” he noted, closing his message with a direct congratulation to Ian Karanja, now a fully qualified nursing graduate.
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