We Only Come Here to Struggle

Claire Cone Robertson, Berida Ndambuki

Description

The fascinating life story of Berida Ndambuki, a Kenyan woman whose life defies Western stereotypes of African women.

Here is the life history of Berida Ndambuki, a Kenyan woman trader born in 1936, who speaks movingly of her experiences under the turbulences of late British colonialism and independence. A poverty survivor, Berida overcame patriarchal constraints to reclaim the rights to her labor, her body, and her spirit. She invokes a many-faceted picture of central Kenyan life in this compelling narrative.

Contents
List of Illustrations
Glossary and Currency
Introduction
Chapter I "I Am Berida Ndambuki"
Chapter 2 "No woman can know what will happen to her in marriage" Marriage, Children and Survival
Chapter 3 "Now I was in business" Work: From Kathonzweni to Nairobi
Chapter 4 "The Akamba are a peaceloving people" Ethnicity, Religion and Politics
Chapter 5 "I ask myself, why did I have my children?" Life and Death
Postscript: Our Relations: On Friendship and Cross?cultural (Mis)Understanding

Bibliography
Indexfriends with Berida Ndambuki. Their collaboration produced this book.

Sujets

• Women's Studies
• African Studies
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Women
• África
• General officer
• Gender
• Woman
• History of Africa
• Anthropology
• The Women
• General
• Autobiography
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 22 mars 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253014658
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

We Only Come Here to Struggle
We Only Come Here to Struggle

Stories from Berida s Life
Berida Ndambuki Claire C. Robertson
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [e-mail]
2000 by Claire C. Robertson All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ndambuki, Berida, date We only come here to struggle : stories from Berida s life / Berida Ndambuki and Claire C. Robertson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-33701-1 - ISBN 0-253-21366-5 (pbk.) 1. Ndambuki, Berida, date. 2. Women-Kenya-Nairobi Region-Biography. 3. Grocers-Kenya-Nairobi Region- Biography. 4. Nairobi Region (Kenya)-Biography. I. Robertson, Claire C., date. II. Title.
DT434.N3 N35 2000 967.62 504 092-dc21
[B] 99-048576
2 3 4 5 05 04 03 02 01
Contents
GLOSSARY OF FREQUENTLY USED TERMS
INTRODUCTION
1. I Am Berida Ndambuki
Childhood, Family, and Initiation
2. No woman can know what will happen to her in marriage
Marriage, Children, and Survival
3. Now I was in business
Work: From Kathonzweni to Nairobi
4. The Akamba are a peaceloving people
Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics
5. I ask myself, why did I have my children?
Life and Death
UPDATE AND ANALYSIS: 1999
POSTSCRIPT
OUR RELATIONS: ON FRIENDSHIP AND CROSS-CULTURAL (MIS)UNDERSTANDING
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Illustrations
All photographs are by Claire Robertson.
Nairobi, 1997-1998: The Research Team
Jane Turunga in Biafra
Map of Kenya
Berida at Gikomba Market
Genealogical Chart: The Family of Berida Ndambuki
Akamba kyondo (baskets)
Harambee! 1997
A friend hands a donation to the Master of Ceremonies
Berida s nephew, the MC; Berida; Domitila; and a niece
Berida and family outside the harambee location
Scenes from Kathonzweni, 1997
Cameraman Dennis Kavinghua films Ndambuki
Berida discusses arrangements with helpers
Elena and Berida catch up on the news
Elena leads a Kathonzweni dance group
Mwenye gets water from the well
Dambuilding
Choma joins the inside action
Muthama
Women s farm implements, 1920s
Map: The Geography of Berida s Trade
Scenes from Gikomba, 1988
Ex-freedom fighter/dried staples seller
Dried staples sellers on break
Out in the hot sun
Used clothing for sale
Akamba women selling chickens
A wholesaler arrives
Luo sellers in the fish section
Men sellers: Tea break for a veteran notions dealer
Selling sacks in front of the staples section
Nairobi, 1997: Women s Groups
Kyeni kya Gikomba (Mbemba na Mboso): The Committee
Kasilili Dance Group
Everyone takes a break
Berida shows off the Sunday school
Mbulwa, Berida, and Mbithe join the discussion outside Solidarity House
Other group members await the outcome
Kathonzweni Market, 1997
Dominic s police funeral
Martin presents a gift to Iain
Berida and Muthama present a kyondo to Claire
Domitila, Berida s sister, and Claire dance at Kathonzweni
Glossary of Frequently Used Terms
aimu
ancestral spirit
askari
police (singular or plural)
atta
flour
bhang
marijuana
harambee
fund-raiser conducted for a cause or an individual
jembe
short-handled hoe
kanga
cloth used by women wrapped over skirt
KANU
Kenya African National Union, dominant political party
kithitu
curse
kuashia
to give bridewealth
kyondo
sisal basket/s
matatu
minibus people and goods transporter
NCC
Nairobi City Council
ndengu
mung beans
ndetema
fever
ngashia
bridewealth
nthoko
cowpeas
nyayo
popular kidney bean
Nyayo
President Moi
panga
machete
shamba
farm
sufuria
metal hibachi
sukuma wiki
kale
ukimwi
AIDS
Note on currency: Beginning in the 1920s a modified British currency was used, with 20 shillings equal to a pound. In 1971 a Kenyan pound was worth about $2.80. By 1987 about 17 shillings were equal to $1; in 1997 about 60 shillings equaled $1.
Introduction
Life Histories
Life histories are one of the best ways to learn about the lives of women in cultures other than one s own. What is a life history and what value does it have? A life history is a life story or stories told to another person by its primary author, whose life it represents. Magdalene Ngaiza and Bertha Koda defined it as an extensive record of a person s life told to and recorded by another, who then edits and writes the life as though it were an autobiography. 1 The secondary author transcribes and publishes it; many life histories have women as both primary and secondary authors. They are a way to restore women to history, to understand change, and to look at the experiences of women other than elite women, who can write their own autobiographies. Thus, a life history can give us a view from the bottom of the socioeconomic structure in societies where the vast majority of people are literate or from ordinary people in societies where relatively few people are literate. As Fran Leeper Buss has said, oral documents . . . provide a deep evocation of the thoughts and belief systems of people generally disenfranchised from historical memory. 2
The particular form of life history used and the purposes involved in the project may vary and should be taken into account to refine our perceptions of that history and inform our use of its content. Some critics have dismissed such work as irremediably flawed because it only represents the viewpoint and experiences of the secondary author. 3 This is, I believe, too pessimistic a declaration of lack of faith in the capacity of the human imagination to bridge cultural and ego boundaries. Women scholars by their training and inclinations have perhaps been better suited to life history work than most men, and have excelled as primary and secondary authors. Although she is not literate, Berida Ndambuki, whose story this narrative is, made a scholarly attempt in her oral narrative to convey her meaning with accuracy and seriousness. She regarded our sessions as a form of white collar work at our offisi (office), which gave it high status, in contrast to her ordinary trade in poor to working-class conditions. Her story is irreplaceable and should be heard.
Life histories have also been questioned because of their subjectivity, their lack of representativeness, and their intense focus on one person. This criticism requires two observations in rebuttal. First, the secondary author can provide context that helps readers understand where the narrator fits within her society and what aspects of her experiences are common or unusual for her age, class, gender, ethnicity, etc. Second, the subjectivity of her experiences can be seen, in Ngaiza and Koda s words, as an asset in the search to reveal changing and varied patterns in social relations and consciousness. 4
Are life histories fatally compromised by their oral origins and hidden agendas? How do life histories work as history, as historical documents? Historians have been recording the memoirs of others and critiquing sources for a long time. All historical sources, written and oral, reflect the agendas of their authors. Good historians take that agenda into account when they analyze a source. Part of writing good history is the effort to analyze sources critically as much as possible and to avoid biased selection of evidence-to present a balanced view that neither edits out minority viewpoints nor overgeneralizes from them. 5 Life histories reflect the agendas of both the primary and the secondary authors and are more interesting in some ways because of that complication. If historians were to remove from consideration sources in which the agenda is not openly stated, then we would have to eliminate almost all documents from use as well as all of oral history, which by definition is not recorded by the person whose account is being recorded. 6 If we were to avoid doing life histories because we are afraid of being accused of bias, then we would lose one of the best ways of understanding other cultures. It is precisely because the life history is a mediated product of interchange between members of different cultures that those in both cultures can begin to understand each other. We can and should, however, pay attention to the agendas and needs of our subjects when we solicit, edit, and publish their stories.
To illustrate how life histories may vary in purpose and execution, I will critique a less-developed example of my own work. The change in my life history work involved, as Kathryn Anderson and Dana Jack put it, a shift from information (da