According to African culture and more so Kenyan traditions, there are tough rules that govern relationships between in-laws.
Story behind how Gina Din met her husband, a fighter jet pilot [Video]
Retired Captain Chris Kariuki narrates how he met his wife Gina Din during a confrontation with a man who would later become his father-in-law.
Retired Captain Chris Kariuki and his wife Gina Din
Kikuyu speakers often say “Uthoni nduragagwo” which means respect to your in-laws is paramount.
You can now imagine the intrigues that brought together PR Guru Gina Din and her husband Captain Chris B Kariuki.
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The two first met at Sportsman Arms Hotel in Nanyuki which was at the time owned by Gina’s father.
Kenya Airforce had not yet completed constructing its barracks and Captain Kariuki had just returned to the country from the US, where he had been training as a F5 fighter jet pilot.
It was during one of his first nights at the hotel that he got into an argument with the man who would later become his father in law.
The captain, who is a fairly tall man, was given a small bed which was uncomfortable to sleep in, and his request for a bigger one had fallen on deaf ears.
After being fed up he marched to the owner’s office and demanded assistance and surprisingly, Gina Din confronted him with a lesson or two about respecting her father.
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“I requested a few times, can you please change my bed and I would go to work come back (to find) they have not changed my bed so after a few days, I got fed up. I marched in there, I was so mad and Gina and her father were sitting there,” he recalled the office encounter.
“You Din! I’ve been telling your people about this bed and I'm fed up,” a furious Captain Kariuki told the hotel owner.
Before the owner could react, his daughter Gina stood and said “That is Mr Din to you!”
“I don’t care!” the captain responded back but before things escalated, Gina’s dad stood up very calmly and diffused the situation.
The soldier was then given keys to a new room with a bigger bed and had his belonging moved.
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Later that night as he was having a drink, he spotted Gina and approached her to apologise for the incident and that is how they became friends and graduated to married partners years later.
“I went sat in the bar later just having a drink and then she came and I said sorry I was rude
to your dad and started to talk and we are still talking. Two children, later we are still talking,” he joked.
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