Kenya’s Door to Heaven

For every devasting moment in Kenya, i.e.  marginalisation, hunger and everything else that portrays its darkest moments, Turkana county has been at the epicentre, depicting the flaws of the country. It is the most unlikely of locations for one of the most but little known religious monuments.

Christ the Redeemer sculpture towers vividly on top of one of the many hills that overlook Lodwar town in Turkana County, a place so famous for placing Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president under house arrest for two years starting from 1959, and also serves as the political seat of Turkana.

The statue is a mirror image of the iconic Christ The Redeemer sculpture that defines Rio de Janeiro – Brazil’s capital city, which played a very crucial role in the hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Lodwar’s statue unlike Brazil’s, which was constructed in 1922 to celebrate Brazil’s 100 years of independence from Portugal, carries a Christian significance.

Permanent reminder

The Vatican, the headquarters of the Catholic church, afraid of the spread of Islam from Sudan in the North, built the second largest diocese in the area. The statue serves as a permanent reminder to all Christian faithful even today.