Esther Njeri, the grandmother of the late TikTok star Brian Chira, has clapped back at Kenyans speculating about whether she earns her keep, following her recent plea for assistance in building a new house.
Taking to her TikTok page on Thursday, February 27, 2025, the granny hit back at the backlash, making it clear that she is constantly occupied with farming and that, unlike what people assume, her days are always packed with agricultural work.
“Hi guys. Leo shosho ameshinda home ako kwa kashamba kake. Kuna watu wanaulizanga kama shosho kweli anafanyanga kazi. Ee shosho analima,” she said.
The grandmother, who took over her late grandson’s online fame after his passing, then went ahead to give TikTokers a glimpse of a section of her farm where she had planted tomatoes and confidently stated that her harvests are always so bountiful that she never has to step into the market to buy groceries.
She showcased the sprawling piece of land and proudly displayed her other thriving crops, including bell peppers, butternuts, and sukuma wiki, and even went a step further to pluck some fresh produce live on camera to silence her doubters.
She also pointed out an area where she had planted thorn melons, emphasizing how well they were flourishing and doubling down on her stance that it was unfair for people to spread claims that she sits idle doing nothing.
“Na hizi mnaona ni organic, hazina fertiliser. Ndio hizi manyanya nachunanga. Ndizo hizi. Na leo Chira hakuenda shule. Ako midterm. Kuna watu wanaulizanga kweli shosho anafanyanga kazi. Ndio hizi pia pilipili hoho, na nimezikula sana. Ndizo hizi shosho analima. Pia malenge. Ndio hizi shosho analima. Ndio hii tena. Ona hii malenge. Hii yote ni shosho amelima hapa,” she asserted.
House plea
The lush farm the grandmother showed off was situated inside a fenced homestead, but it remains unclear whether it is the house that TikTokers rallied to buy for her or if it is in Githunguri, her ancestral home, where her grandson was laid to rest.
The latest development, however, comes hot on the heels of her finding herself at the centre of heated conversations on TikTok after making a heartfelt plea for her online supporters to consider helping her acquire a new house in a different Nairobi location.
The grandmother first made the appeal in January 2025 when she went live with her close friend, Obidan Dela, where she poured out her frustrations on why she never finds peace in the house TikTokers bought her and what had been weighing on her mind.
That was when she came out to reveal that they had bought her a house in a location too far from the main highway and went on to complain that the area’s security was poor, which is why she had been actively thinking of relocating.
“Unaona Chira ameteremka miguu. Walimkujia asubuhi ikateleza ikakaa ikateleza sana, lakini jioni vile kulikuwa kunanyesha wakamuekea huko kwa njia mbali, akashuka miguu,” she lamented.
She further disclosed that she had come across well-designed container houses online and expressed that she was open to such alternatives as she was in urgent need of a solution to her security and accessibility concerns.
“Unajua mimi nilikuwa naona si hata kuna container zinajengwa vizuri. Si kunazo? Inakaa kama nyumba kabisa. Hiyo ni mzuri. Hii area hii mi Obidan sitaki. Roho yangu inakataa kabisa. Na unaona vile hii nyumba iko very smart,” she remarked.
Famous grandson
The grandmother became an internet sensation following the tragic passing of her grandson, Brian Chira, in March 2024.
She first caught the public’s eye after she rushed to the mortuary to confirm whether the body that had been retrieved from a highway in Kiambu—following a hit-and-run accident—was indeed her grandson’s.
Then, she had been accompanied by her then-helper-turned-adversary, Baba Talisha, who had once been a close confidant of the late TikTok creator.
Since then, she has remained a trending figure on the video-sharing platform, still making waves even months after Chira’s star-studded burial on Tuesday, 26 March 2025.
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