The name Kahuhia means “Breathing” or She is Breathing”. The name originates from a story of a girl child who was snatched by hyena ran away with the child. Alarm was raised and people ran after the beast shouting and crying alarm. The animal dropped the child and ran away. The first people to arrive thought that the child was dead as she was badly mauled at the nape. Later one person discovered that the child was not dead as she was still breathing and shouted “She is breathing”, “Kaahuhia1”. The place is now known as Kahuhia.

KAHUHIA MISSION CENTRE

Kahuhia Mission centre started on 3nd December 1906, just three years after Weithaga Mission had been established. The first Missionary to Kahuhia was Dr. Thomas Crawford together with his wife. They built a Church and a Hospital which is still operational to date. Two other missionaries joined the mission centre in 1908. This was Douglas Hooper and his wife who were the grandparents to Cyril Hooper who served the Kahuhia Community for many years. The mission centre grew from a small outstation of Weithaga into a behemoth of a mission centre with several outstations. The Story of Kahuhia Mission centre cannot be completed without mentioning Kahuhia Girls. This big Girls school, started as a Teachers Training College in the 1940s and developed into a Girls only school later. Today Kahuhia Girls is a National School which post excellent performance year in year out. The Anglican Diocese of Mt. Kenya Central is the Sponsor of this historic school. Kahuhia is also a major centre of the East Africa Revival Movement. The First Convention was held there in 1947 with an attendance of 3000 people. The second Convention was in 1958, the third in 1973 and the Fourth was held recently in 2019. Rev Rev Gachanja was a great revivalist and hailed from Kahuhia. The famous Politician and businessman the Late Kenneth Matiba also came from Kahuhia among other great Kenyan independent heroes like James Mbiutah