When my family and I migrated from Kenya, we carried a lot of things with us from notebooks that are now lost, a few items that were farewell gifts, and a few candies too. When coming here we didn't know if we were going to continue our customs from Kenya or if Kenyans here continue being Kenyans. It was until we moved here that we learned that there is a whole Kenyan community here in Lowell and others scattered across America who still speak our languages, especially our mother tongue, Kikuyu. Kikuyu is a tribal language spoken by the biggest tribe in Kenya, the Kikuyus, where I come from. This is a tool that Kenyans use to make our popular food Ugali, inSwahili or what Kikuyus call Ngima. This stick in my tribe is called moiko if that is how it is spelled. This wooden stick is used for stirring the basic ingredients for any food, stirring to make ugali, it was also used to punish a misbehaving child. This wooden stick to me is what makes Kikuyus unique for when our civilization started, they used natural resources to get by. Everytime I cook or any Kikuyus cooks here in the United States it reminds us that we are so lucky to be holding and continuing our culture miles away from our home. As generations come and go this stick is history and the future of the Kikuyus.

– Joylyn

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child