Read or listen to Jane N. Wangari’s full oral history. Available in English.
Yeah, I can tell you about my childhood. I was born in Kiambu County. It’s in the central side. I’m a Kikuyu so that is where we are. My mother was married, but then they separated when I was six months. So all of my life, it has just been me, my sister, and my mom.
So when she came back home, that is my grandmother’s home, life was very hard because I come from a very humble family.
So when growing up, it has been so difficult. My mom had to work casual jobs like cleaning, and being a house-help in Asian families. That is what she has done most of her life. So my life has been difficult but we got through it, and right now we are fine.
When I was younger, in primary school, even sometimes food was hard to get. That is the life I knew when I was young. It was really difficult. Where I grew up was a village setup. It’s still in Nairobi, but very village-like. It’s towards the village side. So we grew up being exposed to many things. We saw the hard part of life.