The Kenya Embroideries were initiated by the East Africa Women’s League in 1957 and show as many facets as possible of life during the years of European settlement in Kenya, with glimpses of the human hopes and struggles which were an inevitable part of building a civilisation in a new and savage country.

 

Each district has its own story, following much the same pattern, of the young adventurer arriving in the wide upland to find huge tracts of country, empty of human life but swarming with wild animals of all kinds. Each early settler had his struggles and bitter disappointments as his stock succumbed to strange diseases and his crops to unacknowledged pests and blights.

 

The productive farms of the present day (which are responsible for four-fifths of Kenya’s exports) are the result of courage, hard work and love of the land itself. The women’s part also must not be forgotten; the household makeshifts, the anxieties of sudden tropical illness with medical aid out of reach; the war years and the lean years of the depressions. How staunchly they stood by the men.

 

The pioneers, working side by side with the African peoples, have made Kenya, in just over half a century; into the beautiful, progressive country it is today. In telling this story the fifty embroidery panels, worked by each of the Branches of the East Africa Women’s League, are, as far as is known, of historical accuracy. Local people who include few professional artists conceived the designs, and many of the needlewomen have never attempted canvas work before. To find out more about this project and how it was started, please click the link below.