Page 30 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 22

Economy
Art & Culture

The Defamation of

Afrikan Culture:

The Case of Waing’a

An old song in the Gîkûyû (Kikuyu) cause that is what they were taught In 1889, as the story is told, a
language is translated thus: to believe. But the truth of the strange disease had struck the
I was pale and flaky when I was coming matter is that he was a man who fell land of the Agîkûyû, one that the
from Waing’a. victim to the propaganda of the Eu- people had never seen before, that
Jesus took me ropean colonist. A man whose name caused the skin to itch intensely,
Cleaned me up was destroyed and whose identity get hot, develop a rash, ultimately
Applied oil on me was deliberately made synonymous leading to the death of some of
Clothed me with salvation with that of Satan. His name and those infected. The people called
I’ll never go back to Waing’a that of his family and descendants it Mûhare. Waing’a, the medicine
Never again will I go back to his place was subjected to the most vile man, renowned throughout the
strategy to shift Afrikans away from Gîkûyû nation had no knowledge of
f you ask many Agîkûyû traditional healing practices to using this disease. None of his forebears
(Kikuyu people) today who those of the white man. Step by had encountered it and so it was
Waing’a is, they will tell you cunning step. information that was lacking from
Ithat Waing’a is the devil, be- the history his predecessors passed

30 | we tell the true afrikan story