It was a love story that sparked a racial scandal and made headlines around the world.
A white British missionary, Ruth Hollowayfell in love with a black man from Kenya, John Kimuyu.
Kimuyu was at an “institute for the blind” where Holloway worked and when they announced they were getting married she lost her job.
Now her daughter, Ndinda Kimuyu, has begun writing a book about the story of her mother’s life, which began in 1957 at incredibly different times.
Holloway was 19 when he went to Kenya after growing up in the mining town of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, in the English county of Nottinghamshire (230 kilometers north of London).
Ndinda Kimuyu is writing a book where she recounts the ordeal her parents had to go through.
A different time
The couple fell in love during a dangerous time in Kenya. The Kenya Land and Freedom Army, known as the Mau Mau, fought for independence from British colonial rule.
When the couple decided to get married, Holloway booked a boat back to the UK to inform her bosses and parents, but was met with a backlash when she arrived, her daughter said.
“It was something big. During the trip, the Salvation Army fired her from her job,” she told the BBC.
“He ended up buying a wedding ring, baked a cake and smuggled the ring inside it by boat to Kenya,” she said.
The couple’s wedding became particularly controversial because Holloway was believed to be the first white European to marry a black Kenyan.
The ceremony itself was even interrupted by the civil official, who despite marrying them said that he did not agree with the wedding.
Ndinda Kimuyu said her parents’ marriage was covered by newspapers and television from the United Kingdom and Kenya to the United States, and some reports said there was a threat of race riots.
“The worst opposition was probably from the white colonialists in Kenya “They didn’t want this,” he added.
“My mom didn’t win; my dad didn’t win. There were some positive articles, but overall they were extremely racist,” she recalled.
The couple’s daughter, who was born three years later, formed a very close relationship with her father.
Separated by politics
The family was separated before Ndinda Kimuyu turned 5 after Kenya’s independence, putting her mother’s life at risk “when Kenya asked all the whites to leave.”g
The couple decided in 1965 that Holloway should take the little girl and her two sisters back to the United Kingdom.
“I was really upset. We came with a small suitcase and the clothes we were wearing and we have been here ever since,” she said.
“It was a very difficult time for my father.. “I think (my mother) had a nervous breakdown, but she kept going,” she noted.
The woman said that her parents thought that a blind person would not find work in the United Kingdom, so her father stayed in Kenya, where he had a job at the police telephone exchange.
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The marriage coincided with one of the uprisings that would eventually lead to Kenya’s independence and exacerbated racial differences. (GETTY IMAGES).
making yourself present
John Kimuyu He kept in touch by sending his wife tape recordings, which his daughter still treasures today.
She said her mother tried to be positive, but Not being able to be with her husband was “heartbreaking” for her.
Holloway died about 30 years ago and the man, who remarried twice, turned 90 before he died in November this year.
His daughter returned to Kenya to speak at her father’s funeral last month, her first time in the country in 30 years.
The trip home inspired her to start writing a book about her parents’ story.
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John Kimuyu sought to maintain contact with his wife and children through recordings that his eldest daughter still keeps.
“I felt at home”he added.
“It wasn’t something sad about my father’s death. In fact, I felt at peace. I went out to the terrace and heard very clearly my mother’s voice say: he is well in my soul,” she commented.
“My mother’s voice was telling me again all the stories she had told me over the years, and my fingers were just talking on my keyboard,” she said.
Ndinda Kimuyu said her parents were “pioneers” who helped change history, adding: “We now live in a different world. “It’s just amazing.”
“But that’s love. For love you will do anything. You will climb mountains. It was love that brought them together and love that made them fight for them,” she added.
