The BENIN BRONZES are in the British Museum in London

The image of the Oba (king of Benin) appears on many plaques. To understand these images we need to know about royal regalia and the role of the king in Benin society. The Oba is shown wearing a crown and tunic woven of red coral beads, which only the king and some of his supporters could wear. The coral for these beads was rare and valuable, traded from as far away as the Mediterranean. It is an appropriate symbol for the king because the prosperity of Benin city and the power of its kings depended largely on long-distance trade. Many of the plaques and other objects from Benin city were taken to Europe, where a large number of them were later given to or bought by The British Museum. West Africans invented the smelting of copper and zinc ores and the casting of brass. They plaques show mainly the life of the OBA (or KING) and do not show men in the city as farmers, growing their yams and vegetables in gardens cleared from the tropical forest. Nor do they show how most of the townspeople lived, employed in crafts such as the making of the brass plaques themselves. And most striking of all, there are no women or children shown in the plaques, which means that more than half of the people of the king’s court are not shown!!

Located wholly within what is now Nigeria, the kingdom of Benin used to stretch from Lagos in the west to beyond the River Niger in the east, an area that equates to about a fifth of modern-day Nigeria. Inland from the fertile coastal belt there is tropical forest, beyond which lies a narrow strip of grassland savannah which is suitable for agriculture. A European traveller who visited in the 1720s described the many villages, carefully cultivated fields, and the production of three or four harvests a year. Where is BENIN? In which modern day country would you find the old Benin City?

Find out about the Benin Creation story……

How Maspeedy came to be in Makutano is anyone’s guess. His history is unknown and unrecounted – he has no family that we know of. No one knows where Maspeedy comes from but one thing is for sure, Makutano Junction now relies on him for all things milk related. He adores his job and will put as much effort into making silage as he will to chasing small Sharon. Everyone loves Maspeedy and Maspeedy loves all. He is superstitious and believes in a lot of strange things, like ghosts. He gets to see much of what goes on in Makutano, riding high on his iron horse. He is kind hearted and is always hanging around with his three best friends; PP, his bicycle and Mvula, the cow. Hannington is dad to Pipi and quite a demanding father! He’s never satisfied with his son’s behaviour or performance and is quite critical of Pipi. Hannington’s real passion is his farm; he, like many Kenyans, knows the potential value of the land and is always keen to maximise its yields. So he gets frustrated when he sees that his shamba (farm) is not being optimised. To add to his frustrations, he is married to Bernadette, who is not an easy woman to be married to! He is a stickler, traditional in his views and very hard- working.

The Barakas Mr Baraka is a farmer and landowner and his wife, Bernadette, is well-meaning but pretentious. They have one son, PP, who is in love with Red Mulani and is at secondary school. They are also bringing up their daughter Diana. Maspeedy lives with the Barakas; no-one seems to know where he came from but he is an excellent milkman!

Characteris in Makutano Junction

The women folk in the story….

Makutano Junction is a soap opera set in Kenya - what is a soap opera? Do you know any British ones?

Can you find out about the characters? What kinds of issues are tackled in the programme? Are they similar or different to story lines used in UK soaps?

Nairobi- capital of Kenya