Mukami Kimathi: Mau Mau Freedom Fighter

I picked up this book wanting to learn more about the Kenya that existed before me. What life was like during the Emergency and gaining a deeper understanding of what sacrifices were laid down so that I can live the life I live today. Mukami Kimathi’s biography written by Wairimu Nderitu gave me all of that, plus so much more. I didn’t expect a love story. I didn’t expect the anger. I didn’t expect the shame. But I experienced all of these.  

Let me start with the love story.  As wife of freedom fighter Dedan Waciuri Kimathi, Mukami introduces us to her Kimathi – firebrand, husband, teacher, man, voracious reader, master strategist, veteran warrior. She lets us know that a person is more than one thing as she gives us insight into their courtship and then the ensuing rift that their union brought in her family.  Throughout her life she became identified as the “Wife Of”, a moniker which brought pride, beatings, imprisonment, ostracization and defined her life forever more. But all in all, she showed that love is not a feeling, love is a choice. And even when it brought her pain, she still chose love.  I couldn’t help but think of the institution of marriage today and those words that are often easily spoken as vows… for better or for worse. What happens when worse entails imprisonment, beatings or separation from your children? Does one go on choosing love? Mukami did. 

Then there was the anger. That after all her years of sacrifice, including the loss of her husband; she like so many other freedom fighters were put aside. Forgotten. Relegated to the annals of history we don’t even acknowledge. Mukami post-independence lived a hard life. One that she took in her stride, but one that wasn’t fair when it came to enjoying the fruits of independence that she suffered for. As a Kenyan who lives free, on the back of her sacrifice, I can’t help but feel angry on behalf of her and likely thousands of others who suffered a similar fate.  

On the back of the anger though is shame. Mukami tells the story of when Nelson Mandela visited Kenya for the first time, he specifically asked to meet her as one of Africa’s sheroes. The request was filibustered by the government of the day, as they knew full well Mukami’s plight as she tried to eke out a living on a patch of land she paid for over lifetime and still didn’t own, was a story that should never reach Mandela.  This is how we treat our heroes. And until we change the past, we will forever be unable to move confidently into the light.  

This book is more than a good read, it’s a history lesson, a love tutorial, a poignant reminder of why telling our stories matters.  

Mwihaki is a reader, a writer, a lover of words. Her day job is making sure the engine is running at Paukwa. Her life job is navigating how to be a better citizen of the world, of life, of her country, of her family. Success to her rests in doing the most she can with the time and gifts she has.