How the story of Africans descended from 15th century Chinese admiral Zheng He’s sailors lives on
- ‘We were pretty sure they were Chinese’: the Kenyans who believe they’re descended from shipwrecked sailors of 15th century admiral Zheng He’s fleet
Tucked into the labyrinth of narrow alleyways in Pate Island’s Siyu village, Mama Baraka’s house itself isn’t much to see, with its cracking clay walls and poorly lit rooms draped with mosquito nets.
But one feature in this typical house on Pate, a tiny island off the coast of Kenya, has brought curious observers from afar: a single porcelain bowl that has been passed down through Mama’s family, an artefact that she says proves her ancestors came from China, by boat, hundreds of years ago.
“We have kept the bowl as a family treasure for generations,” says 75-year-old Mama. “Ever since I was a kid, my grandparents would tell me that our family was part Chinese and we should never forget our ancestry.”
“My mother was called Safina, the Arabic word for ‘ship’,” says Mama, sitting under her house’s eaves to find some relief from the unforgiving heat. “Because my grandmother wanted her to remember her heritage: her ancestor arrived in Pate from a ship all the way from China.”