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Mekatilili, prophetess <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\nof the 1913 Giriama revolt<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
by\u00a0VELEDA<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00b7 3 COMMENTS<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\nAmazing: i found yet another medicine woman who led a revolt against colonial rule, Mekatilili of the Giriama in coastal Kenya. She \u201cwas noted as a charismatic speaker who commanded respect.\u201d She convoked the Giriama to take oaths and offer sacrifices to restore their sovereignty. Mekatilili wa Menza was born in the 1840s,\u00a0 the only […]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nAmazing: i found yet another medicine woman who led a revolt against colonial rule, Mekatilili of the Giriama in coastal Kenya. She \u201cwas noted as a charismatic speaker who commanded respect.\u201d She convoked the Giriama to take oaths and offer sacrifices to restore their sovereignty.<\/span><\/p>\nMekatilili wa Menza was born in the 1840s,\u00a0 the only daughter in a poor family of five children. One of her brothers was snatched away by Arab slavers and never seen again. She married but was later widowed, which along with her age gave her more freedom to move as a woman leader. She started by leading a public baraza at Chakama to protest English recruitment of African porters for WWI; they responded by firing on the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Mekatilili-Wa-Menza-02.jpg\")
<\/a>The medicine woman’s revolutionary baraza, painted by Zarina Patel<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nMekatilili succeeded in blocking British attempts to hire African laborers on the cheap and to collect taxes from all Kenyans in order to force them to work for their companies and into the foreign money economy. \u201cThe success of her campaign was in part because she called women together and drew on the tradition of Mepoho, a female prophet who predicted that the land would deteriorate, youth would not respect their elders, and the Giriama would no longer bear healthy children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nSix months after this baraza, the British arrested Mekatilili, but she wasn\u2019t through. She escaped from the prison camp in western Kenya and walked a thousand kilometers\u00a0 to return home. \u201cIt was unbelievable that she could have walked such a distance through the forest infested with dangerous wild animals,\u201d says Mwarandu. She returned to action, and was arrested again, this time to be sent north to the Somalia border area. Again, a second time, she escaped.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cShe likened herself to a mother of chicks in defence of the villagers.\u201d Mekatilili opposed forced labour in British-owned rubber and sisal plantations, the colonial hut tax (forcing every family to give money to the British), land seizure evictions from the fertile Sabaki River Valley and restricted consumption of palm wine (mnazi). \u201cShe is a heroine of her and our time also. She advocated freedom and basic human rights for all,\u201d said Mr John Mitsanze.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Amazing: i found yet another medicine woman who led a revolt against colonial rule, Mekatilili of the Giriama in coastal Kenya. She \u201cwas noted as a charismatic speaker who commanded respect.\u201d She convoked the Giriama to take oaths and offer sacrifices to restore their sovereignty.<\/span><\/p>\n Mekatilili wa Menza was born in the 1840s,\u00a0 the only daughter in a poor family of five children. One of her brothers was snatched away by Arab slavers and never seen again. She married but was later widowed, which along with her age gave her more freedom to move as a woman leader. She started by leading a public baraza at Chakama to protest English recruitment of African porters for WWI; they responded by firing on the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n The medicine woman’s revolutionary baraza, painted by Zarina Patel<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mekatilili succeeded in blocking British attempts to hire African laborers on the cheap and to collect taxes from all Kenyans in order to force them to work for their companies and into the foreign money economy. \u201cThe success of her campaign was in part because she called women together and drew on the tradition of Mepoho, a female prophet who predicted that the land would deteriorate, youth would not respect their elders, and the Giriama would no longer bear healthy children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Six months after this baraza, the British arrested Mekatilili, but she wasn\u2019t through. She escaped from the prison camp in western Kenya and walked a thousand kilometers\u00a0 to return home. \u201cIt was unbelievable that she could have walked such a distance through the forest infested with dangerous wild animals,\u201d says Mwarandu. She returned to action, and was arrested again, this time to be sent north to the Somalia border area. Again, a second time, she escaped.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe likened herself to a mother of chicks in defence of the villagers.\u201d Mekatilili opposed forced labour in British-owned rubber and sisal plantations, the colonial hut tax (forcing every family to give money to the British), land seizure evictions from the fertile Sabaki River Valley and restricted consumption of palm wine (mnazi). \u201cShe is a heroine of her and our time also. She advocated freedom and basic human rights for all,\u201d said Mr John Mitsanze.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAmazing: i found yet another medicine woman who led a revolt against colonial rule, Mekatilili of the Giriama in coastal Kenya. She \u201cwas noted as a charismatic speaker who commanded respect.\u201d She convoked the Giriama to take oaths and offer sacrifices to restore their sovereignty. Mekatilili wa Menza was born in the 1840s,\u00a0 the only […]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>
![\"Modern](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Mekatilili-Wa-Menza-01.jpg\")
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