Two sides of conflict
Singer Emeli Sandé discovers her family were embroiled in violent struggles...
Singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé learns some shocking truths about both her grandfathers as she retraces their footsteps in the third episode of C4’s My Grandparents’ War.
In 1953, her maternal grandfather, Bob, was posted to Kenya with his family, tasked with quashing the Mau Mau uprising, an attempt by the Kenyans to win back land seized by British settlers.
The British Army’s response was extreme. An estimated 80,000 Kenyan men, women and children were forced into detention camps, while over 11,000
Mau Mau were killed. ‘I feel angered by how the British treated Kenyans, but also how it placed my grandparents in danger,’ explains Emeli.
‘They were living on an Army base in Mau Mau territory. Bob was instructed to shoot his family if the Mau Mau got into the compound and was told it was far better than being captured. It
must have been terrifying.’
Divisions
Meanwhile, Emeli also retraces her paternal grandfather’s story to the British colony of Northern Rhodesia, now
Zambia. Saka Sandé worked in copper mines but later became part of Zambia’s fight for independence.
‘Both my grandfathers were involved in violent struggles in Africa, one tasked with upholding the British Empire, the other trying to overthrow it,’ says Emeli. ‘I now understand how colonialism divided us, and the racism it generated still exists today. But as my family has shown, there’s a way to move forward together.’