Charity Waciuma

Background

Charity Waciuma grew up in pre-Independence Kenya, during the violent anti-colonial struggle between the Mau-Mau and British rulers.

Her work draws on Kikuyu legends and storytelling traditions. The book is dedicated to her father, who was killed during the Mau Mau Emergency.

Her autobiographical book Daughter of Mumbi tells of the tensions felt by an adolescent who is torn between her allegiance to traditional identities (Mumbi was the mythical female founder of the Kikuyu) and a father who sees his support for British colonial rule as an allegiance to modernity.