MORE MATATA: Love After the Mau Mau (The Matata Trilogy Book 2)

When the Africans had enough, the violence was brutal. When the Mau Mau attacked an isolated farm owned by a white settler, they killed him and his family in a horrendous manner. In retaliation, the British Air Force bombed the forests hiding the Mau Mau, while the ground forces were ruthless in killing Africans en masse. Tens of thousands of Africans were imprisoned and tortured to confess in so-called detention camps up to Kenyan Indians were also caught in the cross-fire.

Officially, the Indian shopkeepers in the rural areas had to demonstrate their loyalty to the British rulers, but also support the forest fighters from the back door, lest they be butchered. Despite this strategy, 26 Kenyan Indians were killed. African historians have dubbed this struggle as the greatest war for freedom in Africa. Some Mau Mau detainees have succeeded in getting some compensation for their suffering from the British government. Love after the Mau Mau describes this sad and brutal period of Kenyan history and the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Lando.

He was 10 years old at the start of this narration. The novel traces his coming-of-age as the Portuguese leave India in and Britain departs from Kenya in , almost a decade after the horrors of the Mau Mau. In this turmoil, the Goans were loyal to the British and worked as bartenders, tailors, clerks, chefs, bakers, mechanics, bookkeepers, and musicians who kept a low profile, but enjoyed the good life in their community clubs and societies.

So in their lifestyle and as Christians, they were close to the British. Thoughtfully, Menezes has included an introduction that sets the scene, two maps where the action takes place: Kenya and East Africa, and India, with a glossary of Swahili words and other abbreviations. In this book, the docile Kenyan Goans are not just marginal to the story; they are at the center of the action.

For the first seventeen years of my life, I lived in Nairobi, Kenya. However, the mind never forgets what the heart has experienced, the bitter as well as the sweet. Memories are made of this. I was transported back sixty-five years on the magic carpet of his eloquence to when I remembered the many times I travelled between Nairobi and Mombasa. In his descriptions, I could see the Athi Plains teeming with wild animals. His stories also stirred up some of the most painful and not so happy memories of the colour bar racial segregation like the separate entrances, second-class compartments, restrictions on access to public spaces, and all the other shameful discriminatory practices in British East Africa at the time.

And, not least, the racial slurs and taunts even within our own communities when one married outside of their heritage. As a son of a Goan father and a mother from the Seychelles, as a child, I experienced life often as an outsider, never quite fitting into either community. In a very personal way, I was moved by his considerable insight of racial issues, and the enormour sensitivity of his nature.

Lando demonstrated an uncommon perception of racial tensions, when at an early age he expressed his affection for a young girl whom he knew was different from his culture. He revealed his deep love for a woman who he knew would certainly garner disapproval of some in the community, and showed his determination to overcome the difficulties that he faced throughout his life.

Lando was a man of principal and character. When Lando spoke about his experiences at St. Different races were also segregated in church. His mention of the Goan School, the Coryndon Museum, and the Goan Gymkhana brought a smile to my lips and a twinkle to my eyes, as I reminisced about my innocent misbehaviour, my love of sports and the many friendships forged. It stuck with me that there were very few elements of fiction in the books. It is far more than a life story and life history.

It intelligently portrays the significant contributions that Goans made in the early development of a country, and subtexts of the racial inclusions and exclusions existed at the time. David Grant — Hong Kong — February 25, I left wanting to know more of what would happen to the subject, as he faced tumultuous times ahead. Therefore, buying his second book became a must.

I was not to be disappointed. Continuing in the same easy reading style, the book opened my eyes to a number of social injustices that I, as a fairly privileged expatriate Kenya youth, was basically unaware of, and carries the reader through a journey of life and history in the making, as Kenya struggles to establish its direction and future identity. There are frequent humorous observations and insights on interesting aspects of contemporary life in Kenya and the fragile existence of the very respected Goan community that played such an integral role in the development and maintenance of pre-Independence Kenya.

More Matata also provides a very balanced insight into the Mau Mau rebellion and its causes and effects on the native population in particular. It also discusses the run up to Independence and the sentiments experienced as the Union Jack was lowered on what was a cornerstone of the diminishing British Empire. Whilst it is perhaps very much in vogue to take a swipe at the apparently brutal manner in which rebellions and uprisings were handled by Colonial governments, Braz avoids this by making his observations and leaving it up to the reader to make his own conclusions.

This is an excellent read and, again, I am left wanting to know what happens to Lando, through another period of uncertainty, that me and my family, like so many others was yet to experience. Maria — January 15, It is brilliantly written and the story flows easily capturing the quintessential spirit of colonial East Africa, whilst providing a wealth of information and historical facts that too easily can be lost and forgotten.

Anna Murray — U. Having learnt so much about Goa in the previous book, I now learnt a whole lot more about the Mau Mau and how it affected so many in Nairobi. I was heartbroken when Mwangi, his wife, son Stephen and the baby were rounded up and they never saw them again. I almost feel we missed all this up in the Highlands. I loved the tales of growing up as a teenager and adjusting to a non-Catholic school and then on to college. I could feel the romance between Saboti and Lando, she was so ideal for him, except the trouble he would get from his parents.

Loved hearing about the different trips to lodges and treetops, to build and expand. Now I look forward to the third book. I feel I have had a history lesson, what an adventure it has been. Lots of sleepless nights and good reading! Braz Menezes, already a recognized writer, emerges here as an adept and highly skilled long-form storyteller as well. His origins and family history are covered in more depth in the first book of the trilogy, Just Matata: Sin, Saints, and Settlers.

But this is much more than a tale of one life and one love. In his after-note, the author says his intention is to enrich the existing literature on Indians in East Africa by M. His true-to-life characters live it in their day-to-day activities. The circumstances of life in Goa and Kenya, and the realities of the times — Jomo Kenyatta and the Mau Mau uprising, the struggles in Africa between the disparate colonizers and native peoples and immigrant groups, developments in Europe — unfold naturally as they touch the Goan community and the lives of the characters.

There is no clumsy narrator overview: Menezes has an acute ear for the rhythms of conversation. It is a rather long book: But it is not long in the reading — it moves along smoothly and is endlessly fascinating. The reader soaks up the ambience with eagerness, and truly cares about the characters and the events and the outcomes. Menezes tells us that matata is a Swahil word for trouble. It is for every reader who loves a powerful and well-told story about real people in the real world. Including this unrepentant Muzungu white person. Rock Rambler — December 11, This book building on the first in the Matata trilogy is if anything even more searingly poignant, bittersweet, joyous and inspiring to the soul and mind.

It narrates no sugar coated whispers nor illusions about life in the colonial East African-Goan, etc. These books should really be on suggested reading lists in schools both in Kenya, Goa and other multi-heritage lands of the diasporae, so the respective contributions to that era are even more appreciated and not forgotten. As it is, there are precious few Goan Kenyan authors who have captured those images so exquisitely.

Paul Treacy — U. Such a well told story. I can just imagine being there and experiencing Kenya and Goa with the author. Fills in some blanks in my own family history as my father was from the same generation and would have done many of the same things! Ann Barns — Australia — August 24, It did not disappoint! Lando, the oldest son in a Goan family returns to Nairobi, Kenya, from boarding school in Goa at the age of twelve, just as the rumbling of trouble, the Mau Mau Emergency is brewing.

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He draws you into his life, and his journey to maturity is brilliantly portrayed by Braz Menezes. For me, being born the same year as Lando means that I can relate to many of the events mentioned, but I have learnt so much. I think many of us, mzungu whites , had friends in the Goan and Indian community, but never stopped to think that we were privileged. Lando, as a newly qualified architect, comes to understand the problems and looks forward to Independence from Colonialism. With my brother fighting with the Kenya Regiment against the Mau Mau, and interpreting in Court when Kikuyus were being tried, I heard one side of the story.

This book deals with all aspects of the Emergency and we learn much of the history of that period. This is of interest, not only to people like me, but also to those who have never been to Kenya, but wish to read a fair and balanced account of that disturbing time. I challenge you to read about Saboti and not have tears in your eyes—impossible!

More Matata - Vol. 2 - Matata Books

I can thoroughly recommend this book. I still love Lando and his views on life as a young man and I look forward to the publication of book number three.

As I turned over the final pages of More Matata: Through pages of More Matata, I was transported to a time and place that I held, and still do hold, dear. Where else to be undiscovered, but at the museum with its myriad of hiding places? Menezes breathed life into the now forgotten streets of my beloved Nairobi. He awakened dormant memories of a splendid past life, and a realization that our Goan forebears, and later their offspring, can indeed boast of an intrinsically rich and vibrant participation in the mosaic of communities that contributed towards the building of British East Africa, which later became Kenya.

But, more than merely traipsing down memory lane, Menezes jogged in me awareness into the disgrace and pain of the odious practice of segregation that was prevalent during the time of British East Africa. Being raised Goan, we were bogged down with our own community biases of caste and profession.

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One was considered ineligible for entry into clubs and socials if one was born into the house of a tailor, a cook, a baker, or such. But, none in our community were considered worse than those born nusu-nusu or half-caste. Sadly, these were dirty words among most people; even in the homes of those looked down upon by Goans of imagined higher birth or trade. Turning the pages of More Matata, Menezes has brought to light the heartbreak this evil has wrought on the lives of so many innocent people.

Yes, I am an incurable romantic. The Mau Mau era was also a phenomenon I was shielded from by protective parents. My generation left it to our parents and their generation to worry about the harsh struggle towards an independent Kenya, and the breaking of the yoke of suppression by the British rulers of the Empire. These were household names that everyone knew about. Only, one just whispered these names in the privacy of homes, or perhaps the more daring would talk about them in their clubs.

It was vaguely familiar, and exciting to revisit that forgotten era again. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — More Matata by Braz Menezes. This is a story based on true events of a teenage boy growing to manhood, at the same time as Kenya strives for Independence. It takes place in the early 50s during a brutal struggle, initially by mainly one tribe, the Kikuyu, against colonial Britain.

Schools and residential areas were segregated by race until The Mau Mau fighter 'Matata' means trouble in Swahili. The Mau Mau fighters were driven by British military forces, from the settler-dominated 'White Highlands' first, into 'African Locations' in urban areas, and then, into the servants' quarters of non-Africans, pursued relentlessly by security forces. Lando, protagonist a Catholic Goan, attends an Indian high school adjacent to the African areas and later enrolls in the first multiracial college in Kenya.

In a chance meeting after graduation as an architect, he meets the irresistibly beautiful, bi-racial, Saboti. The intertwined stories of political and ethnic strife, cultural differences and forbidden love, are set against the history and natural beauty of Kenya. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

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More Matata: Love After the Mau Mau: Love After the Mau Mau

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