Bwana Kidogo: Scenes from a colonial childhood

‘Bwana kidogo, Scenes from a colonial childhood’, is a memoir of Australian writer Chris Durrant about growing up in colonial Kenya in the years after the Second World War. Set initially in the tea country above the capital, Nairobi, and then down in the city itself, the book traces the author’s journey from a toddler speaking Kiswahili with his Kikuyu ayah, to boarding school in the Rift Valley and then back home to Nairobi for his high school years. It is the tale of a fascinating period in Kenya’s history, moving from colonial rule, through the turbulence of the Mau Mau Emergency, and then the inevitable progression to full independence under Jomo Kenyatta. ‘Bwana kidogo’ is a highly entertaining and insightful account of what it was like to live in those exciting times in what remains one of the most beautiful, diverse and interesting countries in the world, seen from the point of view of an ordinary person who grew up there.

This short memoir about Chris Durrant is a precursor to his acclaimed novel ‘Under the same moon’, a drama and romance set within the period during The Great War.