Story of Kenyan Family Which Believes It Came From China

As China continues to expand its presence in Kenya through infrastructural development, a family on Pate Island in Lamu County has been a tourist attraction, thanks to an artefact from the 15th century that it has handed down its generation. 

Mama Baraka, a 75-year-old matriarch believes that her family came from China during the 15th century by boat and she has a single porcelain bowl to prove it. 

Speaking to Post Magazine, Mama Baraka indicated that her family has kept the bowl as a family treasure for ages. 

Pieces of broken artefacts believed to have been part of the shipwreck from the Chinese 15th century voyage to coastal Kenya

Post Magazine

“Ever since I was a kid, my grandparents would tell me that our family was part Chinese and we should never forget our ancestry,” Mama Baraka indicated. 

The single porcelain bowl that has been passed down through Mama Baraka’s family has attracted curious observers from afar to share in the family history.

Mama Baraka believes that the porcelain bowl is an artefact that proves her ancestors came from China, hundreds of years ago.

According to the woman, the history of her family began when one of Chinese explorer Zheng He’s ships was swallowed by a storm off the coast of Pate Island and hit a rock before sinking to the bed of the Indian Ocean.

However, she says, “we were a very closed community so maybe they were not welcomed”.

“But at the time, the village had a few pythons and they were giving the locals lots of trouble, so the villagers told the Chinese sailors that if they could help kill the pythons, they could stay.

“And they did manage to kill the snakes and cleared the trouble for us, so locals welcomed them and then they converted to Islam, married local women and started families” Mama Baraka told Post Magazine. 

The connection between Kenya and China has previously been highlighted when Shiyu Village came to limelight in 2005 when then, 19-year-old Mwamaka Sharifu, earned a scholarship to study medicine in China, after a DNA test conducted by the Asian country proved that she was of Chinese origin. 

Mama Baraka’s story effectively highlights the age-old connection between the coastal village and China from the 15th century. 

A tomb in Pate Island believed to have been built by the Chinese

Post Magazine