“My parents’ interracial marriage caused an international scandal.”

It was a love story that sparked a racial scandal and made headlines around the world.

A white British missionary, Ruth HollowayI fell in love with a black man from Kenya, John Kimuyu.

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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 came 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 Kenyan 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 faced 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, making a cake and smuggling the ring inside it by boat to Kenya,” she said.

The couple’s marriage became particularly controversial because Holloway is believed to be the first white European to marry a black Kenyan.

The ceremony itself was even interrupted by the civil servant, who despite marrying them said he did not agree with the marriage.

Ndinda Kimuyu said her parents’ wedding 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 that,” he added.

“My mother didn’t win; my father 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, maintained 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 white people to leave”.

The couple decided in 1965 that Holloway should take the girl and her two sisters back to the UK.

“I was very 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,” he noted.

The woman said her parents thought a blind person would not find work in the UK, so her father stayed in Kenya, where he worked in the police telephone exchange.

The marriage coincided with one of the uprisings that would eventually lead to Kenya’s independence and exacerbated racial differences. (GET IMAGES).

making yourself present

John Kimuyu He kept in touch by sending recordings to his wife, 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 around 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, the first time she had been to the country in 30 years.

The trip home inspired her to start writing a book about her parents’ story.

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.

“My father’s death was not a sad thing. In fact, I felt at peace. I went out onto the terrace and very clearly heard my mother’s voice saying: it’s right 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 the 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 incredible.”

“But this is 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 themselves,” she added.

Source: Elcomercio