It seeks to give voice to those who otherwise would remain voiceless. Vita Books co-publishes its titles with the Mau Mau Research Centre, New York. CLSG will work in partnership with Vita Books to maintain the collection once it is established. The reality is that there had been trade for hundreds of years between East Africa and India before Vasco da Gama was even born. In fact it was a Mombasa-based Gujarati pilot who guided Vasco da Gama's ships from Mombasa to India.
Kenyan children know that a large fort exits in Mombasa.
Few know who built it and why. Fort Jesus was built by Portuguese colonialists in Mombasa to protect the Portuguese occupation army from the liberation forces of the Kenyan coastal people who waged an armed struggle to throw out the foreign invaders. Children in Kenya are still not taught that Mau Mau was a sophisticated armed movement with its military wing, Land and Freedom Army, with its own anti-imperialist ideology, was well organised among workers and peasants and had support in all parts of the country. In fact, the colonial forces had to declare a state of emergency in the country in 1952 in order to control the growing liberation forces. The colonial government cannot obviously be expected to show history from the people s point of view.