When my mother died in 2005, it was my job to do the sorting and packing at her home of thirty plus years.  Amid her things was a box of letters I had written from Makerere and later from my posting as maths mistress in Machakos. 

On Wednesday 15 May, 1963, I had written in regard to the up-coming Kenyan elections,

“Internal self government is slowly approaching.  Elections are this weekend, next week, and the next weekend.  I’m quite interested in seeing what happens.  I also thought it would be interesting to be able to visit a polling station to see just exactly how democracy works in Kenya.  I asked David Roundturner (the District Commissioner) about it last night at the (Machakos) club and he said that I wouldn’t be allowed in the polling area unless I was some kind of election officer.  So he’s going to fix it up for me to be some kind of election officer on May 25^th and 26^th!  I’m really quite excited about it.”

Monday, 27 May, 1963

“Elections are over – all but the shouting and rioting (if there is any).  I enjoyed seeing how they were run and got some movie films which I hope will turn out.  Some of the people where we were felt that they hadn’t been allowed to vote because we wouldn’t let them put their cornstalks (symbol of Paul Ngei’s African Peoples’ Party) in the ballot box!”

As I recall from my 2011 view, someone also wanted to put a rooster in the tin debe that was used for a ballot box!

“Most of the people disliked having to put their right thumb in red dye to show that they had voted.  One man said that it was because he couldn’t lick his thumb with the dye on it.

“The few funny things that happened make it worthwhile; most of the time it was just plain boring.  About 90% of the people who voted were illiterates – one woman kept saying that she couldn’t read the pictures on the ballots.  (Each party and each independent candidate had a picture to represent him on the ballot as well as his name.)

…

“At the two places where we worked people would come to vote and then go outside and dance!  Most of the pictures that I have are of the dancing.

“It has rained very heavily over the weekend which has made getting to and from places most interesting.  The road from the school (Machakos Girls’ School) to Machakos is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

I wonder how many of Wave I remember the Uhuru souvenirs - ties, shirts, and the silk scarf pictured below with the very first Kenyan cabinet – that appeared around the December 12, 1963 Independence date?