Page 85 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 4

AFRIKA'S HEROES AFRIKA'S HEROES

community, rallying the people together. It is said that The British invaders decided that the only way to quell
she used the Kifudu funeral dance to call meetings. her influence was to arrest her, along with an Elder
She drew people together around their traditional who supported her known as Wanje wa Madorika
shrines and urging both men and women to take or Madorikola. The two were imprisoned all the way
oaths denouncing all puppet rulers and proclaiming across the country, in Gusii land, and the British
their support for the Giriama Council of Elders. The took full advantage of this by subduing the Giriama
Makushekushe oath for the women and the Fisi forcefully. Mekatilili and Wanje confounded the
(hyena) oath for the men; this last was said to be one British by not only escaping, but walking back about
of the most deadly and that traitors who had taken 1,000 kilometers (they were wed somewhere in the
this oath could die for their betrayal. course of this journey) and stirring up the people
The activation point came when in 1912, the British against the British once more. They must have been
dared to post a district officer to Mwangea. Prior so perplexed by her that they resorted to calling her a
to this the Giriama had not felt the pressure of the mad woman and a witch.
colonial administration. The British began to impose Mekatilili and Wanje's efforts eventually led to the
tax and forced labor on the Giriama. The Giriama Giriama uprising of October 25th, 1914. Many Giriama
were a powerful people, certainly not a people people were murdered by the British colonizers who
inclined to comply with the authoritarian machinations also burnt down the main Giriama spiritual shrine,
of the British and they were responding to her call. Kaya Fuongo. The brave Mekatilili wa Menza was
By 1913, Mekatilili was a woman of great influence rearrested and this time imprisoned near Somalia.
and authority and she did not shrink back from the The British also took heavy losses and were never
colonial invaders' imposed presence either. She was fully able to subdue the Giriama people and it is said
ready and willing to go to ‘Bibi Queen’ – the ‘mother’ that a truce was negotiated between the Giriama and
of the Europeans - to protest the unfair and unjust the British by an Arab, with concessions made on
treatment by the foreign invaders. It is said that at both sides. The Giriama gained through the removal
one meeting she got into an argument with Arthur of land restrictions and lightening of labor laws.
Champion, the British Administrator and she was so She and Wanje were released from prison in 1919
incensed that she slapped him. The Giriama men and set about to rebuild the Kaya, which did not gain
rallied around her to defend her, the British cowards much success or following. Mekatilili died in August
responded by firing into the crowd and withdrawing of 1925.
with their man in tow.
Under Mekatilili’s influence, the Giriama fought back
against the British, forcing them to retreat to Rabai;
the British retaliated against the guerilla warfare by
burning villages and crops and driving away livestock.
BE INSPIRED

The story of Mekatilili wa Menza of Giriama is one that gives a clear clue of what the true Afrikan woman
is and can become if she gives herself a chance to remove the veil of lies that portrays women as weak
or less. However, this story is not featured as part of our story so that Afrikan women can learn how to
be warriors or military fighters. Not at all. It is intended however, for the Afrikan woman to know that
like her foremothers, she is strong. She carries the ability to do great things in and for Afrika. As an
Afrikan reading this, your mother, sister or wife has been made to look weak, unreliable, primitive, dull,
unintelligent by those who think your forefathers lived on trees. But that was a lie and will never be true.
For you, as an Afrikan, came from a long lineage of kings, queens, warriors, emperors, army generals,
wealthy tillers of the earth and its resources; those who the kings of other nations outside Afrika bowed
to in honor and fear. And because the Afrikan blood is rich and bold, it means you are also a king, queen,
emperor, empress, wealthy and not some aid-begging, roadside thug and compromising individual.
The story of Mekatilili wa Menza shows the strength of an Afrikan woman who could not be caged in fear
of the British...a true Afrikan indeed. But let me tell you what this means. The entire story of Mekatilili wa
Menza is just a shadow compared to that of the coming King, Who, as a stone rejected by men in the days
of His flesh, will cut out a stone without hands, set it up on the earth as a mountain and will bring to an end
the kingdoms of this world. I speak of Christ, the King. For of the increase of His government and peace
there will be no end, for upon the throne of David His father shall He sit and over His kingdom, shall He
reign, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice, from this time forward, even forever. Be ready!

For counsel and wisdom to live in this age of the end of time, please use the contacts below.
counsel@msingiafrikamagazine.com
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