MAI MAHIU, Kenya — Sitting snugly at the start of the escarpment taking visitors up from the floor of the Great Rift Valley, some 33 miles (53 kilometers) from Nairobi, is Mai Mahiu Catholic Church, otherwise known as the “Travelers’ Chapel.” Older generations call the place as “Msikiti,” which means mosque.

One of Africa’s smallest churches, according to Ease My Safari, a travel website, “offers a thought-provoking experience that transcends its petite size. This charming place of worship — built by Italian prisoners of war in 1942 in the middle of World War II — is steeped in history and offers visitors a glimpse into the past.”

“The Italians had been captured in Somalia and transported to Mai Mahiu, where the British army had a base,” said Ann Nyakio, 45, one of the church’s caretakers. “The British, being Anglicans, had a church at the base and the Italians who were basically Catholics asked their captors for a permission to have their own house of worship, a request that ws granted.”

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And that’s how this this curious little house of worship was born.

Nyakio, who has worked at the church for 15 years, said the original church did not have seats and the people worshipped standing or kneeling.

“This coupled by the fact that many long distance truck drivers, who were Muslims, would stop here for prayers, made the church be referred to as ‘the mosque’ in jest,” she said.

The church now seats 12 and measures just 15-by-8 feet (about 5-by-3 meters). There are many Latin writings on its walls, including Venite Ad Memone, meaning, ‘Come to me, my People.”

Nyakio said the church has suffered many incidents of vandalism over the years and many valuables housed there stolen. The Italian embassy in Nairobi has taken over its management and pays Nyakio and her colleague stipends to manage the day-to-day running of the church.

Located in a unique place

Historically, truck drivers in Kenya and across East Africa belong to the Islamic faith. Mai Mahiu, which means “hot waters” in the local Gikuyu language owing to the abundant springs in the area, lies along the Trans-National Highway. The roadway starts from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa and meanders through landlocked Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mai Mahiu is a major rest stop for the drivers. For the drivers, it is a scenic route — especially if you take into account the baboons and the flying crows overhead. However, for the truckers, their only respite is often the chapel.

Before the construction of a mosque in Mai Mahiu, Muslim truckers would go to the chapel. Instead of going inside, they would offer prayers on the grounds.

“They however prefer to do ablutions and say prayers at the back of the church, away from the prying eyes of the public,” Nyakio said.

Meanwhile, another group that visits in large numbers are Italians — whether from the coastal town of Malindi or tourists hailing from the European country. Most of them have a connection with the PoWs who built the church.

Malindi has a sizeable population of Italians and is often called “Little Italy” by locals. Statistics show that the Italian population there has risen rapidly and that today around 4,000 Italians are permanent residents of Malindi and its environs. Some make the trek to get married inside the small church.

Annual pilgrimage site

Some 30,000 tourists visit each year from the Italy. At the same time, the Italian community has invested so heavily in Malindi’s economy, both financially and socially, that it is one of the few small urban centers in the world with its own Italian consulate.

For example, Italian billionaire Flavio Briatore — famous for his Formula One management — is a leading investor in Malindi.

Each January, a group of Italians from Malindi and Italy converge on the church where they hold a prayer vigil in remembrance of those who built the church and whose numbers were greatly depleted by tropical diseases, especially malaria.

But it is not only Italians who come visiting. According to Nyakio, the place is busiest between June and December, the high season of Kenya’s tourism.

“Since we are on the road to the world famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve,” she said, “we normally get a lot of visitors during that time.”

Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for ReligionUnplugged.com. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more for Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.