Just like in a typical true-love story,
it was love at first sight when the
Kenyan-born queen met her true love,
Africa. She describes her undying love
for the continent as something uniquely
imprinted in her identity and further
attributes it to the marvellous upbringing
in which she came to appreciate the
culture, the heritage, and the pride of
being African. Despite the insurmountable odds that never cease to emerge,
particularly with regards to Africa, Flora
remains defiant in being a real African
woman who isn’t afraid of stereotypes
or ashamed of her roots. She loves her
culture to the core and wants to carry
the legacy of living and being beautifully
African.
The Start of the Journey
Flora Nyoro —otherwise known as
Waithera (meaning ‘Thy clean one’)— is
a Kenyan-born beauty, daughter, eldest
sister to her siblings, and a young African
woman. She describes herself as an
advocate for love who wants to change
the world and bring people to realise
that Love has the power to transform the
world for the better.
Born in a loving family, Flora attributes
who she is to her upbringing and further
cites experiences, life lessons, and
counsels given to her by her family as
the core influences to her identity. “My
family, of course, has influenced me
a great deal - from my mother’s long
lectures about being a respectable woman
to my dad suggesting books I should read
to my little sisters looking up to me and
seeking advice on different things from
me. The schools I went to and my friends
and teachers with whom I have interacted, shared opinions and ideas with, are
the ones I’d say have shaped who I am.”
Bred in a deeply marinated African
culture, Flora fell in love with her African
uniqueness and sense that emanates in all
walks of her life from her sense of style
and dress to her respectable and dignified
demeanour. “My dad and mum are the
type of parents who drag us with them
when they are going to the village for any
reason, especially a traditional ceremony.
My dad especially is always very keen
to explain to me the family lineage and
what some customs mean and symbolise.
My mother, on the other hand, is very
subtle with her ‘African lessons’ - she
doesn’t say, she does. It is how she
ensures that only she cooks for her
children and husband, how she visits
my dad’s parents every weekend, and
how she always brings a gift to a home
she’s visiting. It is how she helps take
back dishes or clean up even when she’s
a guest and how she disciplined us and
beat us up really good when we misbehaved. All these things, come to think of
it, really make me the African woman I
am now.”
AFRICA: My First Love
Flora’s context sparked an African
chemistry from which she recalls her
obsession with African literature, music,
and talent. “I remember the books we
read for my literature classes – Ngugi Wa
Thiong’o’s: The River Between and John
Rugandas: The Shreds of Tenderness.
She adds, “These books are both themed
around Africa more specifically, back
in the 60s when most African countries
were struggling for independence.”
And while most Africans are certainly
enticed by the ease of life and developed
institutions domiciled in Europe and
other parts of the world, Flora is
eminently content with her African
homeland. She has come to appreciate,