Book Review: Through the Wilderness of Life by The Duke of Emali Richard Kioko Kiundi

In the beginning

Through The Wilderness of Life is an engrossing account of the life of Richard Kioko Kiundi.

The author shares his struggles and triumphs from childhood to adulthood.

Always the performer in every sphere of life, i.e. school, work and business, Kioko’s story is worth it as it reminds one of the beauty of hardwork and never ever giving up.

This page-turner is a motivational book as it is an autobiography.

He narrates his life’s journey in simple English, making the triumph over despair and fear look easy, with some tinge of humor here and there.

It leaves the reader yearning for more at each turn of page and chapter.

Get in

How good is it to know your lineage since the 1800s.

Do you know your ancestral lineage? Can you name your great great great grandfather?

Kioko pens down his ancestors in the Eombe Nthioka Katemi clan.

It begins in Emali, an emerging and important commercial centre for Africans and Indians, in the 1960s.

Kioko shares his struggles in childhood and in adulthood, in easy to relate English added with a tinge of humor.

The first chapter virtually gives an interesting background of who Richard is, what he has accomplished and what he became.

The subsequent chapters, go deeper into some of the stories raised in chapter one.

As a top performer in class, at work and in life, the duke of Emali story is captivating.

Notable personalities

The book briefly captures the lives of notable Kenyans; the untold schooling days of Prof Kivutha Kibwana (first Makueni County Governor); Kalembe Ndile (Tip Tip Party leader and former Cabinet Minister); and former Machakos Governor’s Alfred Mutua’s father Thomas.

Future Meru County Governor Kiraitu Murungi is also mentioned in this book.

A enjoyable book; I base my conclusion on the fact that it is someone largely unknown, i.e not a politician etc, but his story present simple but important facts such an Mau Mau war, the hate against the British Colonialists, the cultural rebellion by the Akambas against the charm offensive mounted by the British who ultimately, through even genocide or some form of biological warfare, ‘defeated’; the traditional Akamba ways of life.

“I went to alliance”

This part here is a whole notable history and quite engaging.

The duke’s respect for his former school is unmatched; he even subsequently refers to it as The School – with capital letter ‘T’ and ‘S’.

Kweli people who went to Alliance are different.

This book is road down memory lane for Richard Kioko, I’m sure most Kenyans will be inspired to pen their history, not just for their families, but also for their friends and relatives at large to preserve the family history.

Historical accounts

Kioko lived through some notable years in Kenya.

Apart from the 1982 coup, capturing the virgin years of Alliance High School, the book also throws in some interesting-wouldn’t-be-known about Nairobi.

There’s a time the boys sneaked from Alliance High School, got into a drinking den, and found the larger-than-life James Gichuru, who shared a table with them.

It is through the book that one can also see that not much has changed in our culture of corruption, prostitution in Nairobi, crippling bureaucracy and conmnanship in govt.

Brave

The author is very brave to lay bare his struggling, a death by suicide in the family; witchcraft among cousins and the office politics chapter which saw Kioko fired at the height of his job.

One of the saddest chapter is about struggle with ill-health, but it ends off beautifully. For any Kenyan without a medical cover, serious health issue that can wipe out a family’s finances, is like a sword put at the back of the head, always threatening to fall down and send one to poverty and anguish.

In the book, Kioko reveals he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, he was also diabetic.

It took the intervention of many visits to hospital in Kenya and abroad, a surgery and above all practicing Autophagy and intermittent fasting to regain his heath.