Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina

Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina is the author and narrator of this memoir. He is the son of Job Muigai Wainaina, whom he calls Baba, and Rosemary Kankindi, whom he calls Mum.

He begins his story as a seven-year-old, living in Kenya in 1978 and continues through 2006 when the team from Togo plays for the soccer World Cup.

Through his story, Wainaina not only tells of his own struggle to make a place for himself in the world as a writer and teacher, but also to prove himself to his family. He believes he has disappointed his family because he failed to succeed in college.

Wainaina also describes the political atmosphere in Africa as that country struggles to become a democracy. Despite movements for change and the people’s desire for change, politicians continue to pit one tribe against the others in order to garner votes. Elections are...