GLOBE-TROTTING
STORYTELLER COMES HOME TO KWALE
By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 16 March 2018)
Mara Mendiez
is a passionate believer in the power of storytelling.
“What we
need in this world is more storytellers,” the Edinburgh-based performing artist
tells Saturday Nation during .her brief stop-over in Nairobi.
“Why?” she’s
asked.
“Because
stories allow you to tackle all sorts of taboo-ed topics (like FGM and
HIV/AIDS) without offending people personally,” responds the storyteller whose
pedigree in both Kenyan and British.
It’s not
just that listening to stories allows people to let go of inhibitions and open
up their minds, she says. “Stories have a way of seeping into people’s souls
and causing them to change the way they see and do things.”
Stories also
enrich people’s sense of identity, continues this globe-trotting performer whose
repertoire of stories includes both Kenyan and Scottish tales as well as those
from all over Africa and elsewhere.
For
instance, she had just come from Nigeria where she performed ‘The Illusion of
Truth’ at the Lagos Theatre Festival, which is the largest such festival in all
of Africa. ‘The Illusion’ is a trilogy of tales, one Nigerian, one Kenyan and
one Scottish, which she was meant to share at The Alchemist last Thursday night,
produced by Positively African. Sadly, the show (which was also set to showcase
the Sigana Storytellers) was rained out.
Despite not
getting the chance to climb onto a Kenyan stage this trip, Mara’s love of both
Kenyan and Scotland stories came through loud and clear as she spoke to SN
shortly before she flew off to Ghana to give a series of storytelling workshops
in Accra.
Explaining
how she got started performing professionally, Mara says she studied Marketing
and French – not literature or storytelling -- at University of Sterling in
Scotland. She started writing down her first story while anticipating the birth
of her daughter Imani. She’d wanted to ensure her child felt a close connection
with Kenya so she recalled a tale her Luhya grandmother had told her long ago.
She then self-published
“The Chicken and the Eagle” and to generate sales, she started performing the
story publicly. One thing led to another and ultimately, she found her way to
the Edinburgh Storytelling Centre and finally, to a professional career as a
Storyteller.
Born and
raised in Kwale at the Coast, Mara didn’t move to Scotland until she was 13
years old. That meant she had plenty of time to be with her beloved grandmother
and listen to the countless tales the granny loved to share with her. “I’d also
come back to Kenya almost every year and spend time with her then,” recalls
Mara who still considers Kwale her home.
In fact, her
commitment to Kwale has taken tangible form in the last few months when she
began construction of what she is calling the Kwale Sculpture Park and Heritage
Trail. Describing it as being in the incubator phase, Mara’s dream is to
develop a major cultural centre which will generate both jobs and income for
her people. Not only that, she plans to build it on the basis of her background
in storytelling.
“In
Scotland, the legend of the Loch Ness Monster generates millions of euros every
year from tourists intrigued by the monster story,” she says.
“We also
have wonderful stories at the Coast,” she adds, noting how she’s recently been
running a series of workshops in her home village of Mbegani. “Through the
workshops [run weekly] we’re getting the community to recognize its cultural
wealth in aspects of its traditions, cultural practices and stories,” she says.
In the few
months that she’s been working on the project at the Coast, Mara has already
started construction. “We already have funds for one sculpture and we have
designed the Trail to run through the entire village ensuring the whole
community is involved in the project and benefits from it.”
Adding that during
her marketing days, she worked for BBC, promoting festivals including the
Edinburgh Festival, which she says is another illustration of the way culture
and the arts can generate multi- millions if developed well.
That’s the
dream and aspiration she has for the Cultural Centre that she and the Mbegani
community are building in Kwale.
And that’s
the real story!
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