Page 63 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 21

Re-Education

its original name and purpose was,
housed travelers from afar who
sailed to Afrika’s coast using the
monsoon winds. These sojourners
Jumba would then need to stay for long
periods while waiting for the winds
to change direction, enabling them
to travel back home. Historians have
claimed that there were fishermen
La Mtwana trading here and women who were
not clad in bui-bui or hijab, suggest-

And the Question of Afrika’s Ruins and the ing that form of dress was intro-
duced to Islam much later in history.
Restoration of Her Lost Glory Having visited this place on two
separate occasions, for two very
Chioma Phillips different reasons having reflected
on the many, many ruins in Afrika –
whether destroyed by the hands of
the colonizer or slavers or time and
o one living knows It has been said that it was situated neglect – there are some questions
what its original name strategically where ships could not that demand answer. I present to
was, nor what the dock, offering it and its inhabitants you some thoughts which have been
Nsettlement was estab- protection from attack. It has been quietly germinating since we started
lished for. Today, as one walks down said that the location was chosen working on this magazine and have
the silent leaf-covered paths of this and deserted for similar reasons – been fed and watered by circum-
abandoned ancient town, one yearns the presence, and later, absence of stances and rich conversations
to engage in earnest conversation fresh water. like I have with my very insightful
with the gigantic 1000-year-old That is the mystery behind ruins husband who asked me provoca-
Baobab trees to find out what they that do not have any documentation tive questions about Jumba. These
saw, learn what they know about the and have scant physical evidence to thoughts are not exclusively mine.
place now called Jumba La Mtwana provide more clues though, isn’t it?
(large house of the slave) and un- It seems Jumba (or whatever it was
earth the mysteries behind its exis- One can only hazard a guess based called then) was abuzz with activ-
tence. Surely these huge plants could on what is left behind as to what ity both local and international. A
divulge what happened at this 14th was the reality on the ground, and hub of trade, religious and social
Century Swahili settlement and why from there build a narrative that interaction that brought people
its inhabitants appeared to have left answers the questions that it can – from diverse places together. And
abruptly in the early 15th Century? to some measure of satisfaction. It when they left, only the trees, the
is believed that this site, whatever grass and the animals remained,
Jumba La Mtwana is the site of
ancient ruins in Mtwapa area of
Kilifi County at Kenya’s coast. The
location’s surviving structures are
four houses, four mosques, and a
tomb, constructed primarily out of
coral. Also found within the site are
ancient wells and cisterns once used
by the inhabitants of old. This site is
now gazetted as a national monu-
ment by the government of Kenya.

Speculation surrounds this site as
to its function, role and location.
A ancient stringed instrument. One of the few remaining artifacts in Jumba La Mtwana

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