Of Mau Mau Rebellion and my mother’s birthday

Two things that spring to mind on October 20th; my mum’s birthday and the Mau Mau uprising.

October 20th is not the exact day of my mother’s birth, but she chose for herself this date because of its significance in Kenya’s fight for independence against the British Imperials.

To understand why my mother chose October 20th, also known as Mashujaa Day (Heros Day), I will have to take you on a trip down memory lane.

My mother, Irene Njeri, was born circa 1956, at a time when Kenya was on the verge of a bloody war with the British colonial government. Even though not a Mau Mau fighter himself, her father did what many men in that time were doing, and he supported the Mau Mau.

The genesis of the Mau Mau rebellion was a long-standing dispute for land, to which the Mau Mau believed African land belonged to African people. The Mau Mau insurgency against the British colonial government sought independence and the return of traditional homelands.

Mau Mau means Mzungu Aende Ulaya, Mwafrica Apate Uhuru — the white man should go back to his country, and leave the African to regain his independence

By the late 1920s, most prime highlands were home to white settlers and who, in turn, turned the land into commercial coffee, tea and pyrethrum plantations…