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Olga in Kenya: Repressing the Irrepressible
 
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Olga in Kenya: Repressing the Irrepressible (Paperback)

by Elizabeth Watkins (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: £9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 380 pages
  • Publisher: Pen Press Publishers (15 Nov 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1905203748
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905203741
  • Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.4 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 902,519 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #89 in  Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa > Eastern > Kenya

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Product Description

Product Description

Some people achieve far more than their time on earth should allow, making a real difference to many, yet unrecognised by most. Olga Baillie-Grohman is one such person. The summary of her life reads as an extraordinary catalogue of events - born in Austria within hours of Adolf Hitler and Charlie Chaplin, she married a Kenyan soldier-settler and was recruited to British Intelligence work. Her second marriage to a senior Government official enabled her to fulfil many missions in life - elected as the first female member of the Nairobi City Council followed by the Kenyan Legislative Council, Olga used her standing to advance better urban housing for African's, education for the continent's women and as a representative to the smaller coffee farmers. Olga's story is one that should not be forgotten as it is a guiding light for putting the world to rights and an inspiration to others.

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Olga in Kenya: Repressing the Irrepressible 5.0 out of 5 stars (4)
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Rivetting story of colonial Kenya, 15 Mar 2006
By Andrew Gordon (Haddenham, Bucks) - See all my reviews
Letters from London addressed to ‘Olga - Kenya’ in the 1930s would reach Olga Watkins before properly addressed letters posted at the same place and time. Such was the impact in the colony of this remarkable woman, who had gone out to help her new husband start an up-country farm in early 1914.

But this is much more than a ‘had a farm in Africa’ book. Olga was a woman of boundless energy and a compulsive setter of the world to rights. After losing her first husband tragically soon (in a skirmish with Germans on the Tanganyika border) she faced all the problems of developing the farm as a young widow in male dominated pioneer country. By taking a much closer interest in her labour force than was usual at the time and by intelligent allocation of responsibility she achieved results which amazed her neighbours. This led to a lifelong mission to improve the standards of African housing and education (especially of women) and to upgrade the status of women of all races. Subsequent marriage to a senior civil servant and election in 1941 to the Legislative Council placed her very much at the stress point of tensions between the colonial administration and the ‘settlers’.

Olga’s story is told by her daughter with a most attractive combination of scholarship, humorous anecdote, literary skill and love. Taking us through two world wars and the economically perilous years between, she successfully brings to life a wealth of unexpected or forgotten aspects of colonial life of the period. (The captain of the ship at Mombasa gives a party on board for all the children sailing for UK the following day. Imagine!)

The Kenya story is set against the background of family origins in Kent, Oxford and Austria, including Olga’s childhood in a Tyrolean castle bought as a ruin by her grandmother. Her skill on skis (in the sport’s infancy) leads her to her first husband, and her fluency in German to work for British Intelligence in Nairobi in her first desperate years of widowhood.

The well told tale of an attractive and adventurous woman. I couldn’t put it down.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Olga in Kenya is Terrific, 13 Mar 2006
By A Customer
It's absolutely fabulous! I can just imagine the tremendous effort that went into collecting the papers and other information from so many different places: the diaries, letters, the Legislative Council material and so on; and then working it into a meaningful chronology and story. It's just fascianting and I've loved it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Olga in Kenya, 13 Jun 2006
By Richard G. Lloyd "R Lloyd" (Surrey, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a superb book - hard to put down, written with verve, insight and humour. There's not a dull page - I was sorry to finish it. It provides a telling (probably unique) insight into the pioneering life in one of the most interesting African countries at a time of adventure and dramatic transition. And it's a moving and exciting story of a woman of extraordinary talent and courage. Don't miss it!
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5.0 out of 5 stars An utterly compelling biography
Olga in Kenya is told in facinating detail, revealing an extraordinary woman whose strength and ideas were far ahead of her time. Read more
Published on 3 May 2006 by HSmith

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