In Her Stride

Five years ago, Caroline Wanjiku, aka Teacher Wanjiku, was in the big leagues. Her meteoritic rise to the top seemed unstoppable. Then she made one decision that saw it all come crushing down. She speaks to ANDANJE WOBANDA about her struggle to get back on top of things and her new Wa John comedy series.

- Andanje Wobanda

Caroline Wanjiku Tharau is always early. On the day of our shoot, she shot me a text. ‘I am here. Pole I am a bit early.’ She was a whole hour early.

‘I have always been an early bird; it was instilled in me by my mother. We were never allowed to be late for anything from dinner to functions,’ she says.

For our interview at the Clarence Hotel, a day later, she is still an hour early. I find her in a small cubicle on the 7th-floor restaurant enjoying her mukimo and beef stew. ‘I love their mukimo,’ she informs me of pushing her plate to the side after a few minutes. She’s casual in a pink dress with matching brogues and a black trench coat with her signature big curly hair.

Her conversation with True Love in January 2014, covered her rise as Teacher Wanjiku, her love triangle with her then-boyfriend... and now husband of four years and her hopes for her next project. But since then, she has been married, had another child, come from the brink of oblivion and added another character (Auntie wa Harrier) to her comedy arsenal.

But before all this, she was just a kid who loved singing. ‘I was born and raised in Huruma estate in Eastlands in a two-roomed house. People can’t believe I grew up there because of how I turned out. But it was possible because I had a strict mom,’ she says. Caroline talks slowly, clearly enunciating every word just like a teacher would. Her stern features are perhaps what makes her character Teacher Wanjiku so convincing. ‘Yes I am stern, but I am also very nice and understanding.’ She says.