African Legends in 60 Seconds · Episode 11

Gor Mahia

A Luo legend, Kanyamwa (Homa Bay), Kenya1:59Learn Dholuo

Flat illustration of Gor Mahia on the lake shore with glowing blue eyes and a staff, rings of ripples climbing his body as he vanishes, the word GONE in bold letters beside him, onlookers among the papyrus, his reflection in the still water and a card reading lal, to vanish.

Words from the story, in Dholuo

Read it, then say it

Say each word out loud as you read it. Pronunciation audio is coming soon.

sigana
= legend
The Luo tell a sigana of a man called Gor. The Odaga and McOnyango English-Dholuo Dictionary uses Gor Mahia as its own example of a sigana.
lal
= to vanish
Gor could lal, vanish, right before your eyes. The Odaga and McOnyango dictionary also gives lal for to disappear and to escape.
jakwath
= herdsman
The old herdsman on the path who sent the crowd the wrong way. The Dholuo Bible uses the plural, jokwath, for shepherds.

Read along

The story

Every match day, Kenya chants his name. Few know who Gor Mahia was: a man who could vanish.
In Kanyamwa, near the great lake, the Luo tell a sigana, a legend, of a man called Gor.
People called him Mahia, for his wonders. He was a healer and a prophet.
Visitors walked into his house and found only a stranger. The stranger was Gor.
He left rooms without opening a door. He called out from the next room, and the room was empty.
He could lal, vanish, right before your eyes.
Then he saw something coming: creatures as many as locusts, carrying sticks that spat fire.
Gor went to Karungu and warned the warriors: this was a fight they could not win.
Some feared a man of such powers. The story goes that one night a crowd came for him with spears and torches.
On the path they met an old herdsman, a jakwath, leaning on his stick beside his cattle.
They asked where Gor had gone. The old man pointed down the road. They ran. The wrong way.
The old herdsman was Gor.
He died at home, and his family still remembers him every May.
Today a football club carries his name. Now you know who he was.
Gor Mahia died in 1920, his family says. In 1968 a football club took his name: K'Ogalo, after his grandfather Ogalo.

About this story

Gor Mahia lives in Luo oral tradition, and families tell his story in more than one way. He was Gor, son of Ogada and grandson of Ogalo, of Kanyamwa in what is now Homa Bay County, remembered as a man of wonders, a healer and a prophet. People called him Mahia for his wonders, and sources disagree on what the name means, so we give it no meaning. The wonders in this film are the ones his family tells: visitors found only a stranger in his house, he left rooms without opening a door, and he called out from a room that was empty. The prophecy at Karungu follows the telling of the National Museums of Kenya, and the story of the old herdsman comes from a Kenyan newspaper telling, so we tell it as a story told. His family says he died at home in 1920 (some sources say 1922), and they remember him every May. In 1968 a football club took his name, and its nickname, K'Ogalo, comes from his grandfather Ogalo. We followed the National Museums of Kenya, his family's memories as reported by The Standard in 2019, the Odaga and McOnyango English-Dholuo Dictionary, and a Kenyan newspaper telling for the herdsman story. Gor Mahia is said GOHR mah-HEE-ah.

We tell it here to remember the man behind a name all of Kenya knows, and to learn a few Dholuo words along the way. Dholuo speakers, the people of Kanyamwa, Gor's family and historians are the best guides to his story and his language, and their corrections to the pronunciation or the telling are welcome.

Quick quiz

How many words do you remember?

What does sigana mean?

What could Gor do right before your eyes?

What does jakwath mean?

0 of 3 answered

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