Kimani

So speaks the powerful voice of 84-year-old Kenyan, Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge, describing his unrelenting determination to get an education in a deeply moving new film by director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) called The First Grader (U.S. release date: May 13, 2011).

C. M. Rubin: The Global Search for Education: The Way Out of Poverty C. M. Rubin 2011

Litondo plays Kimani Maruge, an 84-year-old Kenyan who is a bloodied veteran of the long-ago Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s, which preceded Kenyan independence from Great Britain, its former colonial overlord.

Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: The First Grader Marshall Fine 2011

The First Grader tells the true story of Kimani Maruge, an 84-year-old veteran of Kenya's Mau Mau Uprising who enrolled in the first grade when the Kenyan government announced that it would make an elementary school education free to all, earning Maruge a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest primary school student.

Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: The First Grader -- Reading, Writing and Rebellion Jonathan Kim 2011

Litondo plays Kimani Maruge, an 84-year-old Kenyan who is a bloodied veteran of the long-ago Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s, which preceded Kenyan independence from Great Britain, its former colonial overlord.

Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: The First Grader Marshall Fine 2011

I'm talking about Oliver Litondo, a Kenyan former news anchorman who had only played minor roles before being cast in The First Grader, a film based on the true story of Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge, an 84-year-old villager and veteran of the Mau Mau Uprising who, in 2003, enrolled as a first grader after the Kenyan government announced that they were making an elementary school education free to all.

Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: The First Grader -- Reading, Writing and Rebellion Jonathan Kim 2011

Five days later, he won the Bix 7 by beating Kimani by 15 seconds and averaging 4:42 per mile.

The Achy Return of a Running Icon Scott Cacciola 2011

On the surface, The First Grader tells a basic heartfelt story about an older man, the 84-year-old Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge, finally fulfilling a long-unresolved dream -- to learn to read.

Brad Balfour: British Director Justin Chadwick Gets the Gold Star for The First Grader Brad Balfour 2011

Q: I bet your biggest moment of anxiety was finding Oliver Litondo who played Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge.

Brad Balfour: British Director Justin Chadwick Gets the Gold Star for The First Grader Brad Balfour 2011

In 1997, he set his sights on defeating Joseph Kimani, a Kenyan who had made a habit of outracing him.

The Achy Return of a Running Icon Scott Cacciola 2011

So speaks the powerful voice of 84-year-old Kenyan, Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge, describing his unrelenting determination to get an education in a deeply moving new film by director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) called The First Grader (U.S. release date: May 13, 2011).

C. M. Rubin: The Global Search for Education: The Way Out of Poverty C. M. Rubin 2011