Joyce Nafula Simiyu
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Joy”
11 October 1964 — 18 March 2026 · aged 61
Nation Media journalist who gave the sports desk a heart and the newsroom its best laugh
Nairobi, Kenya Born in Bungoma, Bungoma County Resting at Family home, Kimilili, Bungoma CountyAbout Joyce
Joyce Nafula Simiyu filed her first match report from a plastic chair in the press box at Nyayo Stadium in 1988, and the sub-editor who read it asked, 'Who wrote this? It has a pulse.' She was the only woman in the row, which she handled by arriving earlier than every man and knowing more than all of them.
She was born in 1964 in Bungoma, where her father taught at a Friends primary school and her mother sold vegetables at the roadside. After Butere Girls' High School she read journalism at the University of Nairobi, and in 1987 joined the Nation Media Group as a cub reporter. For fourteen years she covered Harambee Stars and the Mashemeji derby. She was an AFC Leopards supporter by blood, since her uncles were Ingwe die-hards, and she never once let it taint a match report, although the headline writers were not always so restrained.
In 2003 she became Features Editor, a post she held for fifteen years, and for nineteen years her Saturday column, 'From the Terraces', made Kenyans laugh about football, marriage, matatus and the miracle of ugali. She mentored more than forty interns, kept a drawer of spare notebooks and reading glasses for any colleague who forgot theirs, and had a policy that no young reporter should ever be left alone with a sub-editor's red pen without a friendly witness. She married Tom Mukhwana in 1991, and loved cooking chicken stew for the whole newsroom on press nights.
Joyce died in March 2026 after a short illness, aged sixty-one. She leaves her husband, two children, a sister and a newsroom that has not yet stopped quoting her.
“Write it plain, write it true, and put a little pulse in it.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Bungoma, Bungoma County
- Resting place
- Family home, Kimilili, Bungoma County
- Passed away
- 18 March 2026, Nairobi
Memorial Service
Sunday, 29 March 2026 at 11:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Joyce Simiyu journalism scholarship
A scholarship for young women studying journalism at the University of Nairobi, in Joyce's name.
$2,337 raised of $7,000
33%20 recent contributions
- BN
Beth Nyokabi gave $47.50 · 4mo ago
“With love from the diaspora.”
- MW
Mercy Waithera gave $19 · 4mo ago
- SM
Selvi Murugan gave $28.50 · 4mo ago
- HW
Harrison Wekesa gave $190 · 4mo ago
- LA
Linda Achieng gave $190 · 4mo ago
“In honour of a great man.”
Life journey
Butere Girls' High School
Butere Girls' High School1978 – 1983 · Butere, Kakamega
A drama festival regular and a debating team captain.
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
University of Nairobi1983 – 1987 · Nairobi
Edited the student paper in her final year.
Reporter, then Sports Reporter
Nation Media Group1987 – 2002 · Nairobi
Covered Harambee Stars and the Mashemeji derby for fourteen years.
Married Tom Mukhwana
1991 · Nairobi
Thirty-five years of shared deadlines and shared dinners.
Features Editor and columnist
Nation Media Group2003 – 2024 · Nairobi
Wrote 'From the Terraces' every Saturday for nineteen years.
Intern mentor
Nation Media Group1995 – 2025 · Nairobi
Mentored over forty young journalists, many now editors.
Sports Journalist of the Year
Sports Journalists Association of Kenya1999 · Nairobi
For match reports that had a pulse.
Tap an organisation to find others who studied or worked there.
Family & connections
Joyce is survived by
- Tom Mukhwana· Spouse
- Wendy Nekesa Mukhwana· Daughter
- Ian Wanyonyi Mukhwana· Son
- Esther Namwenya Simiyu· Sister
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Joyce.
Knew Joyce? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- TM
Husband
In thirty-five years she never once went to bed angry, because she would stay up writing until the anger turned into a funny paragraph. I have her last column on the fridge. I read it every morning, and every morning it makes me laugh before it makes me cry.
- MW
Former newsroom colleague, now in London
I joined the Nation from the UK in 2004 not knowing a single Kenyan footballer. Joyce handed me a list of names, a bowl of githeri and a warning never to insult Gor Mahia in the canteen. Twenty years later I still pronounce 'Mashemeji' her way.
- HW
AFC Leopards supporter, Kakamega
Her column was the only newspaper article our supporters' club read aloud before every match. She wrote about Ingwe like a lover who knows every fault and loves anyway. The next time we win the derby, I will wave her column at the sky.
- JB
Friend and neighbour in Nairobi
We grew up two villages apart in Bungoma and ended up in the same Nairobi estate. Joyce brought ugali and chicken to my door when I was ill, and stayed to read me her column. Her laugh carried across three compounds.
- LA
Intern she mentored, now a news editor
My first story was 400 words of nonsense. Joyce returned it with a single line: 'There is a good sentence at the bottom. Start there.' I did, and the story improved, and so did I. I say that sentence to every intern now.
- MO
Sports desk colleague at Nation Media Group
Joy once phoned in a match report from a hospital bed, a pen in one hand and a drip in the other. She said the story would not wait, and neither would she. Every Saturday afternoon I still listen for the sound of her keyboard.
