MEKATILILI OF KENYA

From the bowels of Kenya, a prophesy about British oppression had gone ahead. What also followed was that the savior would be a woman. No one guessed that it would be Mnyazi wa Menza, an only girl among 5 children, born to poor parents in Mutsara wa Tsatsu, a village of the Giriama sometime between 1840 and 1860. The little girl had no idea as well until she became an eye-witness to the capture of one of her brothers by the Arabs in the market place. The rage and dissatisfaction was only fueled when the British colonial masters arrived the sacred Giriama of Kenya and marched right on to threaten the values of the Giriama people; pushing it right to the verge of erosion. The culture, norms and values of her people were to be replaced with British policies and ordinances. But this was unacceptable to the young woman whom the birth of her son katilili had christened Mekatilili (Mother of Katilili). It didn’t matter who stood as the tower against her, she was ready to fight and tear out her people from the jaws of the British colonial lions.