Kenya’s Pokomo people ask the British to return what was stolen: Their source of power

Title: Kenya’s Pokomo people ask the British to return what was stolen: Their source of power
Author: Max Bearak
Media Outlet: The Washington Post
Publish Date: August 9, 2019

“That drum, the ngadji, the source of power and pride for the Pokomo, has been relegated to a storage room in the British Museum in London for 111 years.

The theft of the ngadji by British colonial officers is a story well-known among the eldest Pokomo. The British Museum, too, acknowledges the ngadji was “confiscated” before being donated to its collections in 1908. The museum also acknowledges a request by the Pokomo community for its return.

(…) “We cannot return to the old days. The world has changed, not just the Pokomo,” Mjidho said. “Yes, the ngadji’s return would restore our pride. It might inspire our youth to look beyond the hopeless world that has been created around them.”