The Tradition Bearer

When Mara Menzies used to hear stories from her grandmother of ogres and forests, she didn’t realize the strength of the imprint of her grandmother’s cadence and delivery. Growing up in Kwale, alongside one of the most beautiful beaches of the world, Mara and her sisters would spend time playing on the beach and chasing each other after school. Playtime was intertwined with singing songs in every one of her home languages – Swahili, Luhya, English. As she went to school each day at Loreto Convent Mombasa where she started off her primary schooling, stories and song were a part of her daily journey.

When she was thirteen, the family moved to Scotland. It was an exciting new chapter for the young teen getting to know the other half of her heritage, but the cold of Edinburgh was a million miles away from the warm sands of Diani. Like most young people applying for university, Mara was encouraged to do a “sensible degree,” which in her case, led to her enrolling for a Marketing degree with a minor in French. However, she had always been interested in the arts and creative endeavors, but was shy of centre stage. After graduation she found a position with the BBC in Scotland, learning the ins and outs of production.

Mara left full time work when she was expecting, and during her waiting time, decided to write a book that celebrated the heritage that she wanted her baby to know. The result was an illustrated children’s storybook of the crocodile and the monkey. It was a story she often heard as a child — one which had a lesson at its centre like most African folk tales. The exercise led her into a whole new direction.

As she searched for places to sell and share the book, she literally stumbled upon the Scottish Storytelling Centre. There she found a community that spoke to her spirit — a gathering of individuals who understood and reveled in the tradition of oral storytelling. Immediately, she felt at home. Eager to learn more, Mara spent as much time as she could at the centre, soaking up experiences and there she found her calling, a path that was cemented at the feet of her grandmother, years before.

Since that fortuitous find in 2007, Mara has been a professional storyteller. While a good amount of her time is invested in working with children and using stories to help them understand ideas like identity, morals and values, she also works with institutions, interested in using the art-form to influence public discourse and current issues. She has performed at numerous global events, including the international African Film Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Singapore Storyfest and Jamaica’s Ananse Soundsplash Festival. Using her role as a storyteller to cement value in the idea of Africa and its offerings, she’s engaged with students in universities in Scotland and the Caribbean, leading discourse on the role of identity in today’s challenging and increasingly homogenous global spaces.

As she navigates her two worlds, Mara remains rooted at home. On a global stage, she showcases the tradition of African storytelling, our folk tales, our language and expressions, in a very real sense, keeping our traditional history alive. Conversely, here at home, Mara has gone back to her early days: working with families in Mbegani, Kwale to set up a Sculpture Park and Heritage Tales Site which will host work by Kenyan artists that will use stories and art to protect and showcase in new ways the different aspects of our history.

We celebrate Mara Menzies for sharing our African storytelling tradition across the globe — Hadithi hadithi?

#KeDiaspora #PaukwaPeople