BONUS: AfriWetu Host Mona Nyambura Muchemi

Daniel Story
I’m Daniel Story, and this is History in Focus, a podcast by the American Historical Review. This is some special bonus content to go along with our two most recent episodes. In those, we shared two pieces from our current podcast collaboration with AfriWetu, a podcast that explores pre-colonial African history through thoughtful, highly engaging storytelling. The show’s creator and host is Nairobi-based storyteller Mona Nyambura Muchemi. What we have here is my conversation with Mona, about the origins of AfriWetu, about her journey as a storyteller and as a student of African history. We also get into the state of popular understandings of African history across the continent as well as Mona’s future goals for this and other work. It’s a fascinating conversation that I think you’ll really enjoy.

Before we go further, can I get a little clip of you introducing yourself, say your name, and maybe a line or two about who you are?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Sure, my name is Mona Nyambura Muchemi. I am a storyteller, an African storyteller, and I tell the story of our ancient African ancestors. When I tell these stories, in order to bring them back to life, and in order to inspire generations of Africans with the stories of their past and know what, where they’re coming from. I should say that our tagline is rooted in our story, because I would like people to think about where it is that they come from and feel a sense of pride as to their ancestral history.

Daniel Story
Excellent. I’m curious, and I know that our listeners and readers will be curious about you, your story. So can we start there? Can you tell us just a little bit about yourself, your background and how your journey eventually led you into doing the kind of work you’re doing? Now, I know that’s a big question. You can be a selective, but-

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
I know, because the one thing you’ll know, and listeners of AfriWetu will know is I so steer clear of talking about myself, the simple reason that I always want AfriWetu to be ancestor led so in terms of my story, what I can say is that in terms of my journey, I grew up in a home that was very loving. Both my parents are very loving humans, but they’re also very proud of their heritage. My parents are not from the same country, so it was so interesting growing up in a home whereby the different cultures were so strong, plus the language, plus how they did things, the food they ate was different, the language they spoke was different, the ways in which they viewed culture was different, but yet, interestingly, almost the same. There’s some things which are just foundationally the same, which for me, was the first foray into understanding what is this thing called Africa, right? Because you’re talking about people say, “Oh, if Africans do this, Africans do that.” And although I hate the generalization, I lived in a home which is two different modern African countries, and there were some things which are just fundamentally the same. And then through that as well. And through them, I also grew to learn to love my culture. And then my name, which I said in the beginning, is Nyambura, and in my father’s culture with Nyambura, my father’s is, is Kikuyu from Kenya, that you are named after your after his mother. So that’s the naming convention. So I always used to wonder, okay, so if I’m named after his mum, then his mum was named after somebody else. So his mum would be my ShoSho. So if I’m named after ShoSho, ShoSho must be named after somebody else, her ShoSho, who must be named after ShoSho, so I was like so where did this come from? So that, in itself, just my name, on its own, was already a story of my ancestors. So that’s something that’s already there. And then on my mother’s side, my mother is now from two different countries, you could say, and her people, you can find they’re almost like going to say, you can find them across one, two, three, five countries, five African modern states. And again, she was from a her father was a chief, mwami. So because he was mwami, again, how is it that that story of, how did he become mwami? How? Obviously, there’s a lineage that comes to it for him to become a mommy. And it was, it’s inherited. It’s not an appointment. It’s an inheritance, so again, a very rich cultural story there. So she was very proud of that culture. My father very proud of his. So that in itself, just set off that journey of- To everybody else, it’s completely normal, by the way, if you meet any African brought up on the continent. It’s completely normal. I think for me, it was just like, This is amazing. This is fascinating. Why? So it’s just the quest for why. So, yeah, so I think, and I think that seed was always in the back of my mind for a very long time for my sins. And I went and I studied law. So I’ve always said that the law degree has taught me how to do my research really well. Cross referencing is important when it comes to history. And then I just decided to use that skill, because even as lawyers, you’re supposed to be able to pull together facts and tell a narrative and tell a story. And I thought, why don’t I use that power for good? And the power was to tell stories of ancient African history, that that was something that was just in me, that was just fighting to come out, because it was I used to find stuff anecdotally. It was very random. In my professional life, there’s nothing that I did that was linked to what I do today, but it’s just like my hobby, say, that has now become my life. It’s taken over my life.

Daniel Story
So tell me about AfriWetu then, what led you into the world of podcasting? How did that start? What goal did you have? How did you get it off the ground.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
In 2016, I want say, when WhatsApp groups were still not 10,001 but quite small. I and a group of friends had a WhatsApp group. We called it the 1:59, in honor of Eliud Kipchoge. And we use this group to share interesting stories, interesting facts. So whenever anybody would come up with a story about something that was very western leaning and said, “Oh, how come in Africa, we don’t have anything like this, etc, etc, etc.” Then I would shoot back and say, “actually in ancient Nubia, duh duh duh duh duh duh duh,” or, “actually in Aksum, you’ll find duh duh duh.” So it was just my thing, and I would share links and the reaction that I got from my friends, so this is just my friends, my inner circle, my friends, was just amazing, and how they’re like, “I didn’t know this. How do you find this out?” I’ll be like. “This information is out there. Does nobody know?” And so for me, I found it very easy to share this stuff because it was, for me, it was easily accessible in terms of, I knew where to look. And I’m on a group of friends, we’re about 10 of us, and very highly educated African women, and yet they did not have this information. So that was like, That’s shocking, right? And then, then what they used to do is, they used to say, “can you just distill what it is you shared, you shared a link. It’s very long. Can you just give us updates of what it is?” So I used to do that. So I just used to give, like, short snippet updates and say, “Oh, this is really cool about the city of Benin. Did you know x, y…” So I did used to do the did you know fun facts? So you’ll hear the did you know and fun facts in the podcast as well. I like doing the fun facts. That’s harking back to the WhatsApp days. And then one of my friends actually said, she’s called Agi. She actually said, why don’t you do a podcast? I was like, Podcast is for people who are trained professionals, not for those of us who are just amateur historians here, no. And then she kept on asking. She’s just, why don’t you try? Why did you try? So I thought it was going to be the most complicated thing. It still is. I would not lie, it is complicated. And 2019 I just started writing. I was just like, actually, let’s see what this looks like. And I started writing scripts. The first civilization that I studied in depth, but wasn’t the first one that I released, was the Kongo Kingdom, and I just did a whole script on that and shared it with one of my friends. She’s called Mwendi, and she’s like, “this is really dope, I’m going to introduce you to a Podcast Producer who can help you do this.” And she introduced me to Lee, who we still work with today. He’s amazing. And I was like, “Okay, maybe this is such a crazy idea.” And I went in to record an episode, and the rest is really history, because then what happened is COVID hit in 2020 and we were all stuck in our homes. And as a consultant, I lost all my gigs. So I was like, “I have free time to do research.” And that’s exactly what I did. And here we are, five years later, so that it was not in any way, shape or form, very well planned, very well intentioned, very business minded thing. It was literally, “Oh, this is interesting. Oh, let me do it,” and then realize how much I loved it. I loved using podcast as oral storytelling. It really feels so like it’s channeling my ancestors, because that is one of the ways in which African stories, proverbs, wisdom is shared. It is oral storytelling. So that’s how I entered podcasting, by accident, and I’m still here.

Daniel Story
Great, that’s great. For maybe somebody who hasn’t yet listened to an episode of AfriWetu can you give a little teaser as to what they’re gonna discover if they start to listen?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
First of all, they will discover a whole new world. I think that’s the first thing is, if you walk into the AfriWetu world, it’s not anything you can think or imagine. And the reason for that is not because of, per se, my story is telling skills, although I do think they’re good, but my producer really builds a picture with the sound that he uses and the words that I have, and he does some magic, and you enter this world of actual ancestors. And I always love the research and the scripting process, and I love the recording process, because I feel it come alive. So as you come into the AfriWetu world as well, you feel the same energy, and you almost feel like you’re there. You’re there with the ancestors, watching all of these things happen around you. The other thing you’re gonna find is an honest conversation about our ancestors. So I always tell people I was like, I don’t shy away from the bad that happened, the same way in which I don’t shy away from the the good. And it’s not to create like this false narrative about Africa that we were all kings and queens, etc, etc. No, it’s like the full the full scale of the ancestors. And that’s what I want people to feel. I want them to when they put on Mapungubwe, they feel that they walked into Mapungubwe back in the 13th century. You know what I mean? I want them to feel. Them to feel like they are there and they’ve experienced it. So for anybody coming into the AfriWetu world, they need to know that it is, that’s what it is. The other thing as well is that they will find is that we have a lot of fun, because it’s podcasting, and there’s a sense of freedom in oral storytelling, there’s a sense of creative license that happens in terms of bringing things to life, and that’s why I love podcasting. I love listening to podcasts because it just takes you to a different world. And I think that the skill of having a podcast is that because you don’t have a visual, then you literally have to rely on your mind. And I think that’s the most beautiful thing, because whatever I say in the soundscape, whatever the production sounds like, every single person will take out of that episode something very different, and that’s what I love. So I think anybody who comes in, first of all, it is not your typical history lesson. I promise you that I get very confused about dates. So I was like, I’m not even gonna try and do that. But it is, it is something that transports you back, and whatever creative trigger in your brain works, that’s the bit that AfriWetu will touch. So I think that’s what they should expect to find, and should walk into it pretty happily and meet the ancestors. That’s what they’ll find.

Daniel Story
Yeah, and you at least now maybe you’ve always done it this way. You do two types of episodes. Usually it seems like episodes focused on a civilization and then an episode or episodes focused on a legend. Can you talk about what each of those are?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So, so the civilization episodes are the ones which I narrate throughout, and then what I do is I take advantage of my friends. AfriWetu exists because of a community. And there’s a term which I’m sure your listeners will know, which is Ubuntu—I am because you are—and the love and the support and the shoulders that I stand on to do AfriWetu, I always feel that they need their voice heard, like people need to hear who are these other people who are behind AfriWetu. You may hear my voice and my producers work, but there’s a whole community behind it, and so I use that opportunity to find legend or fables and folklore, African legends and African fables and folklore. So what ends up happening is I usually script, more often than not, I script. Sometimes I lift an exact script, and then I think of which of my friends voice is going to match that story, because that’s the other thing as well, because I’m inviting people into an AfriWetu world, you don’t want them leave thinking, “Oh, that, not sure I really gelled with that.” You want to hear somebody say a story and almost picture that person telling it like they were there. So I find these interesting legend stories which are so dope and interesting fables and folklore, which are so much fun. So I always say I had the most fun in those sessions. And I had the most fun because I literally do a script and send it to them, and I tell them, please put this in your own words. So even when you hear them speak, it’s not just my words, it’s they’ve embodied it. And then when they come, I literally do an intro, and then I sit back and relax. That’s it. And then I do what you’re doing now. Then I then have a nice little mini interview after the episode. So I love those episodes, because you get to hear the story of a legend or fable and folklore from a different voice and their take on it. And then also, afterwards, we have a discussion about how they felt about it. Those are my favorite episodes as well. You’ll hear I laugh a lot, and I am so happy to do those episodes. I need to do more of it. There also a lot less work. Yeah, I love those episodes too. Yeah, yeah, oh, that’s actually sorry. That’s the thing as well. I always make sure that they’re my friends, and the reason why is because they wouldn’t gel that well if it was a stranger or a professional voice artist, AfriWetu is meant to be a community. So I make sure that it is people who I know. So because when I know them, then it’s easy to gel. Otherwise it’s, yeah, it doesn’t work for the AfriWetu model that is.

Daniel Story
I see, yeah, yeah. Speaking of community, do you have a sense of your listeners, who’s listening, where they’re from, do they interact with you in any way?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So my listeners, its so interesting because I have those who interact with me via WhatsApp. I’ve had those who send an email. I’ve had some who made comments on the platforms that I use, so very many different ways. So if I look at the analytics, so my audience the last 30 days, for example, gosh. So I have listeners from Malaysia, Jordan, Venezuela, Lithuania, Taiwan, let me see another-Latvia, Panama, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, it’s such a wide range. I don’t even know how they hear about AfriWetu. I have no idea, but the largest number of listeners actually come from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada. Would you believe? So those, in terms of off the continent, those are the top three off the continent. The rest of the rest are from the continent and Europe. So yeah, it’s interesting. So that’s geographical. And then when it comes to the the mix, I have about 48% are male and about 34% female. Then we have our non binaries, 12%. So it’s a it’s an interesting mix. And the age range, really, the largest age range is between 28 and 59 so it’s very it’s very scattered. In all honesty, if anybody was to ask me, who’s your typical AfriWetu listener, I wouldn’t be able to answer that question. And I guess it makes sense, because if you if you ask me, who I envisioned, my listeners, to be honest with you, I did these stories for myself because I was just like, if I can fall in love with them, then anybody can. So if I do them for a particular person or demographic, and they don’t fall in love with it. I don’t know them as well as I know myself, so I tell the stories to myself. And that’s why the range is just so vast. That’s only from one platform, because apparently, AfriWetu, this is, this is a sense of pride, it’s in the top 10% globally, so I can wear that badge of honor happily.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yeah, that’s terrific. That’s wonderful. But I think that that point on doing what you know you love, what you’re interested in, putting that kind of at the center, and letting the chips fall where they may. I think often is great advice for other podcasters or people doing creative content. Do the thing that you want to listen to, do the thing that you want to watch, the thing that you wish was out in the world but isn’t it’s gonna, it’s gonna feed your soul while you do the work.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yes, you’re right, because otherwise, you’ll be so busy chasing a demographic that you’ll then you’ll actually change what it is you do to something that you don’t recognize, and it’s hard to keep that up, that momentum so hard, because your demographic also changes, their thoughts, their feelings, what they like changes.

Daniel Story
Right.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So as you can see I was like, the only person I can keep up with is myself.

Daniel Story
Yeah, for sure. Can you tell us a little bit about the two episodes that you are sharing with history and focus on the AHR.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yes, and it goes back to your point about the two types of contents that is done by AfriWetu. One is a civilization episode. One is a legend episode. So the legend episode, which is narrated by the wonderful Nyaguthii, my friend. The legend herself, and I’m going to mispronounce her name, so I do apologize for my Northern African women, is Dihya, and her story was one that I had never heard of before, this warrior queen who kept the Arabs at bay, not once, not twice, but three times, like literally smashed their forces. And then the fact that she’s today, especially in Northern Africa, with the Amazigh people, is such a present icon. And I think what I loved about her story is that I’ve rarely done any stories about Northern Africa. Most of the stories I do are from like the belt, the Sub Saharan Africa belt. And so finding this woman was such a gem, because she was not just fierce, she was also a mother. She was also attacked for being who she was. She was unconventional in every way, shape or form. And I actually released this episode during March, which is International Women’s month, because I just thought what, what dopeness there is in ancient African history. And also I thought it was a nice contrast to what people think North African women are, in terms of their culture. And I thought it was so dope to just show actually she’s everything that is the opposite of what the rest of the world thinks is a Northern Africa woman, and the fact that she’s still very present today, if you go to your Algeria Tunisia, you will still hear stories about her from the Amazigh people. So that’s why I thought that was important to share with your audience. I believe then the other one was Buganda. And the Buganda Kingdom is one where, I think across Africa, people have heard of the Kabaka, and the Kabaka was, is, sorry, still the Monarch of the Buganda Kingdom. But what I loved about this particular episode was, again, just this contrast of what the role of an African woman is in the context of this very mighty, powerful kingdom. They took no nonsense. And I thought that it was such a dope story to tell, because it’s, again, this whole flipping the African story on its head, or rather, the African narrative or its head, from from outsiders to the continent. But also on top of that is that I think that Buganda kingdom, and this is what I love about doing about AfriWetu, is that it is so far removed from what people think kingdoms were on the continent, and Buganda had a navy. They navigated the choppy waters of the Lake Nnalubaale is what is called by the Buganda and how they they were just so formidable, and they had from military to trade to navies like they had it all. They were huge and influential. And to this day as well, the other reason why I like the Buganda Kingdom is like to this day, it still exists, and they are still very strong and very proud in their heritage. So I thought that those would be two really contrasting episodes, one from North Africa, the other one from East Africa. They couldn’t be further apart to just share with your listeners, just to get a taste of how vast the story of African history is because I think that’s that is such a good contrast to see. Oh, there’s really not one narrative about this continent. It’s so layered, so different in every way, shape or form. But yes, that’s why I shared those two. I don’t say too much about them because I want people to hear them and enjoy them. But yes, those are the two that I shared

Daniel Story
That’s great. Yeah, you’ve touched on this already, in a way, but I wonder if you have thoughts on the current state of understanding, whether they’re in your own Kenyan context or across Africa, of African history, how people in the broader public engage with African history, or do they? It sounded like a part of what motivated you to go into the work with AfriWetu was the sense that people don’t know enough. What do you think? Do you see other people doing similar kinds of work to what you’re doing?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So I’ll answer the last question first. I do see others who are really putting like African history, pre colonial African history, on the map. I think the thing that makes me hopeful is that there are people who are doing it, and I see more and more people entering this space, which is wonderful, using all manner of different creative ways in which to bring the stories to life. But from where I sit, I still think that we’re very niche, which is very sad, because I think that, and I always tell people, I was like, it should be a cacophony of people talking about our ancient history, because there’s so much to unpack and there’s so much to tell. And I think that when I look at how other cultures share their stories. They share their stories to a point whereby it’s become the normal lexicon. I was talking today to my partner, and I was like, the story of Achilles heel, and where that the root of the Achilles heel came from. Was it’s today’s narrative, and you hear it in professional speak, whether it’s in the creative space, academia, etc, but it is out of an actual folklore.

Daniel Story
Right.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
You know what I mean. But so powerful is the storytelling of that and the pride in which the it is the Greeks isn’t it? Yeah, the Greeks love their story to the point whereby we use the term. It’s in our everyday lexicon, right? When you think about things like the Roman Empire, there’s nobody on this planet who has not heard about and about Julius Caesar. Do you see what I mean? Like, the way other cultures have captured and embrace and celebrate their culture is unapologetic, and I think that’s where I want African history to be. I want us to be talking about it, and where a child in Malaysia is quoting something that is directly as a result of our stories. So that’s the first bit, and which leads me to the next bit, which is I look at myself as very Pan African. In fact, the reason why I chose to do African history, as opposed to one region or one country, is because I personally feel but I do hope that after five years this is no longer the case, that we all have our stories in our own spaces. So I am sure if you go to Mali, they can tell you about the Mali Empire. I am sure if you go to Benin they can tell you about Dahomey. If you go to Nigeria, they can tell you about the Benin empire. I’m sure if you go to Ghana, they can tell you about the Ashanti. You see what I mean. So I’m sure if you go to all those places, if you go down to South Africa, they will tell you about the Zulus. In fact, South Africans are very proud. They’ll tell you about the Zulus, about the COSAS, they’ll tell you about Linda Bene. You go to Zimbabwe they’ll- But you see, everybody can tell their story from where they’re from, but if you go to Mali, will they be able to tell you about Mansa Musa? That’s where I would love us to get to. So I do think, for example, if you’re in Tanzania, if you’re in Uganda, if you’re in Kenya, you will know your history and you will know your story, but how you learn about everybody else’s story is almost in passing. So you will have Tanzanian students who will know about Mansa Musa, but that’s it, but they will know about all of Mali, because Mansa Musa was one guy, and his wealth was based on the empire of mining. It was a him in that sense. So it seems that it’s like they I don’t see that in the systems that we have, especially when it comes to talking about history or teaching history, that it does go into that same depth, yet at the same time, I guarantee you, as when I was going to school, I knew everything about the Tudors. They have no bearing on my life. But in depth about the Tudors, in depth about World War One, World War Two, which were not our wars. They weren’t, you see what I mean. We were colonies, but they actually were not our wars. So that’s what I still feel we don’t have, we don’t have that deep understanding of the whole of the African continent. That’s where we need and we have a little bit of work to do. I honestly think that you can only get stronger and bolder as different cultures when you appreciate and when everybody comes from a point of strength. Because how else will I know how to engage with you? Or will you know how to engage with me if we’re not speaking as equals and sharing what was, what are beautiful cultures. So I think that I would encourage others to, and it doesn’t have to be AfriWetu but to really have an open mind and dig deep into understanding African history as well, because you’ll be surprised how similar we are. Just by reading our stories. All of our ancestors were equally crazy. They were also genius. They were all so proud, they also messed up. And I think that’s the thing. It’s like the human condition is not one where one is better than the other, but it is one where we can all learn from each other.

Daniel Story
Yeah. So what’s coming up with AfriWetu? What are you excited about? You’re doing stuff related to climate in some upcoming AfriWetu episodes, right?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yes. So I was thinking about the, you know, current climate crisis, especially when it comes to the continent, the African continent, we really have felt the impact quite dramatically and drastically. I think, when it comes to extreme weather conditions, we’re getting all of them, and yet, at the same time, less than 10% of the gasses have been produced by us. But what it was is, I’ve always loved so like stuff around the environment, but I didn’t know how to incorporate that into the AfriWetu narrative bit. So in doing this work right now, in climate the things I was finding out is like, “oh, you know, this is how people used to x, how they used to y, how they used to preserve.” So I was like, actually, that’s a story over there. So I decided in each AfriWetu season from here on out, from next year, I’m gonna pick three under threat environments. So whether it is a lake, whether it is a forest, whether it is a river, whether it is a woodland, whatever it is, and then, like, just dig into how the ancestors used to preserve or live in harmony with it. So I thought that would be my sort of like contribution in what I know how to do best, which is talk about ancient African history and tell it in a story. So I thought that would be a nice addition to the narrative around climates. But it’s also interesting how people then view the environment differently when you don’t just approach it as a climate change science thing, but as a as a heritage thing, it then has a different way in which it impacts you, because you stop thinking of it as something out there, and you start thinking about something that has to do with you and your culture and your history. So when we think about the environment and when we think about what the future holds, I think there’s a lot of knowledge and wisdom that can be unlocked from the past. And I think the way in which we engage with the past when it comes to the environment, can be done in a much more open minded way, and it can be done in a way that really can engage people’s brains into clinging to a culture that they want to know. And then there’s these stories of what the, the rolling mountains, the forests, etc, and also to know that as we think about it in the past. So for AfriWetu as we think about the past, it doesn’t mean that it is gone. It’s actually like, what is it that we can do today that will then get us back to a more sustainable future for the environment its really, really important. The other thing that is really I’m excited about with AfriWetu, Lord knows how I’m going to get through it, but I’m going to do it, is creating a children’s version of AfriWetu, and currently toying around with the idea of animation and shorter episodes which children can engage in. I don’t have the skill and the talent to do it, but with God’s help, I will find help to do that. So I’m really excited about that, because it’s the joy I see with adults engaging with AfriWetu, I would love that to be something that we can start giving young children today, and again, putting myself at the as a child, what would I love to know about my heritage? So that’s exciting. It’s like the AfriMtotos that is Mtoto is child in Swahili. There you go. Exclusive, it’ll be called AfriMtotos.

Daniel Story
Great. That’s exciting, yeah.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
And lastly, what I’m really looking forward to next year, as well, is collaborations. So one of the things with with AfriWetu is it hasn’t been as collaborative as I would love it to be. The areas of collaboration, whenever they’ve happened been amazing, and that’s with my guest narrators. And magic happens out of that. And also because I want AfriWetu to grow. It cannot grow with just myself and a very small team. It cannot. And myself, Mayanla, and Lee, who are in it all the time. But it would be great, and what we’re looking at next year is having collaborations with other, other producers, other creatives, to bring these stories to life through different mediums. So whether it is through TV scripts, plays, whatever it is, but it would be, that’s what I’m looking forward to. So I’m being very intentional next year about collaborations. For the AfriWetu listeners, the, I said it at the end of last year, but I’ll say it again on your podcast, is that we are going from two podcast episodes a month to one podcast episode, and then the second slot is going to be filled, always by something new and different as we expand AfriWetu. So it’s madness. It’s crazy. Let’s see what happens. I started this five years ago, and we’re still here, so yeah, let’s see if another crazy idea will last another five years. So I’m excited about that. I’m excited about the environment pieces. I’m excited about the children pieces and animation. I’m really excited about collaboration and just trying out new things. And right now, my my world is now focused on AfriWetu. So I’ve this will now be my my, I keep telling people, this is my retirement plan. I want to tell stories for the rest of my life.

Daniel Story
That’s wonderful. Yeah, I have really enjoyed working with you, Mona, and very happy that AHR was able to throw even just a little bit of support your way. And it’s such a good it’s an investment very well spent, I think because the work that you’re doing is it’s both excellent quality and it’s it’s deeply rooted in who you are, and it’s as you’re describing here. It’s also touching on something that that I think lots of historians and history minded listeners will agree, is just a really important contribution to African experience, African culture, life, and not just within the continent, but globally. Yeah, yeah.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
I actually do want to seriously, thank you, Dan and the AHA, because I think last year and this year, especially financially, that boost that you gave AfriWetu to do the production, really honestly, just took a load off my mind. You are definitely a part of the AfriWetu story. That’s what I mean when you do collaborative things like this, magic happens. So, to get to this stage, it’s been amazing. So we can safely say that the year of 20- series five was a lot of it thanks to the support from the AHA. So thank you. And if anybody feels like, I think there’s a thing where you can buy a cup of coffee and it just gives like and that’s how you can donate just the price per cup of coffee. I will have to speak to you or others who’ve done it, and then find a way in which people can actually contribute to AfriWetu. We are more than happy. What they can also do is just write in guys. We love it. We will even read out your stuff if you so wish. We love hearing from people. We really do. It’s a community. It’s a global community rooted in Africa. Yeah, we’re here.

Daniel Story
That’s great, yeah. Thank you very much, Mona, for talking with me. I think this conversation will go really nicely alongside those two episodes that you’re sharing with AHR. And pull a page from your book—I hope that people listening here will be filled with enough curiosity to go and do their own research on African history as well as listen to the great AfriWetu content.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, for me, it’s until next time.

Daniel Story
That’s right,

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Mbarikiwe!

Daniel Story
That was my conversation with Mona Nyambura Muchemi, host and creator of the African history podcast AfriWetu. Be sure to checkout the two episodes AfriWetu shared with us, one on the East African Kingdom of Buganda, the other exploring the North African legend of Dihya Al Kahina. Of course, you can listen to all of AfriWetu’s great content in their podcast feed, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

History in Focus is a production of the American Historical Review, in partnership with the American Historical Association and the University Library at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This bonus episode was produced by me, Daniel Story, with editing and transcription support by Phoebe Rettberg. You can find out more about this and other History in Focus episodes at historians.org/ahr. That’s it for now. See you next time.