We Inherited Silence — a thought piece By Kagwiria Murungi — Kenyan Female Motorcycle Adventure Rider Most Africans can name foreign poets, actors, actresses, and revolutionaries, but we cannot tell our own grandmothers’ middle names. We quote ancestors from other continents, yet we treat ours like curses. We light candles for saints we have not met, but refuse to shed a light for the mothers who birthed our mothers. We call our villages backward — (I was watching the history of Wangari Maathai on YouTube — I recommend you do too) — we fear the names of our elders. We inherited a story that our people were villains, and we believed it! As a Kenyan female motorcycle rider who has ridden through 42 counties in Kenya and counting, I have stood in villages with deep roots, and I have listened to stories that the textbooks I read in school had no room for. I ride into the margins, because they hold what we are forgetting. Our grand folks fought both visible and invisible wars, they built homes with their bare hands. We treat them like shadows, but they were warriors … SURVIVORS. We were not taught their names, their prayers, we were not taught what they had to endure so that we can have a spine today. Their stories must be told, our stories must be documented, or we risk passing the silence on. I am part of the new wave of African female motorcycle adventurers rewriting what is possible, archivists of oral legacies. We ride to listen and bring back the truth. This thought piece serves as a reminder; ask your parents the name of their parents, sit in your village and write what you hear, unlearn what they sold us, and relearn what was stolen. Soon enough, we are all becoming ancestors. The question is: What story will they tell about us? Follow me for more: Substack: https://substack.com/@kagwiriamurungi YouTube: Kagwiria Murungi Rides Website: www.kagwiriamurungirides.africa #AfricanHistory #MotorcycleStorytelling #KenyanWomenRiders #KagwiriaMurungi #WomenWhoRide