Wanjira

It is the mid-1970's and Wanjira, one of Kenya's Children of Uhuru, or Children of Independence, has entered The University of Nairobi, the country's highest institution of learning, ready for the last stage of her preparation as one of Kenya's "Future Leaders." As she awakens to the social and political realities around her, Wanjira soon discovers that her nation's own coming-of-age will profoundly affect and challenge her emerging womanhood and identity as a young Kenyan woman. When she falls in love with Luka, a fellow student at the university, Wanjira is forced to confront the ethnic tensions that permeate her world, and which threaten to destroy the hopes, ideals, and aspirations of her generation. Wambui B. Githiora grew up in Mang'u, Kenya. She holds a B.A. honors degree in Literature from the University of Nairobi and a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has worked as a sub-editor for a Kenyan news magazine and on school radio programs in Malawi and Uganda. She currently teaches English at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband, David Updike, and their son, Wesley.