# The First Grader

The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford. Brought to you by National Geographic, in US theaters May 2011.

In a small, remote, mountain-top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance at the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), a Mau Mau veteran in his 80s, who is desperate to learn to read at this stage of his life. He fought for the libera...tion of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied—even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside 6-year-olds.

Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) supports his struggle to gain admission, facing fierce opposition from parents and officials who don’t want to waste a precious school place on such an old man.Based on a true story, THE FIRST GRADER explores the remarkable relationships Maruge builds with his classmates some 80 years his junior with vitality and humor.

Through Maruge's journey, we are taken back to the shocking untold story of British colonial rule 50 years earlier when Maruge fought for the freedom of his country, eventually enduring the extreme and harsh conditions of the British detention camps.

*Maruge arrived at school with a dream of learning to read. While he achieved that dream, he also became something of a teacher himself, forming a close bond with the students and teaching them life lessons they could never learn from books.*

** teringin nak tonton filem ini. The First Grader. *fighting for education.