• She lost 10 of her siblings in a decade
Image: AMON NAIBEI
'Mother-In-Law' actress Charity Mwamba, real name Elizabeth Wanjiru, says she spent most of her younger years mourning.
Charity, 77, plays the role of a strict and no-nonsense grandmother and mother-in-law in the local dramedy, which airs every Sunday at 7pm on Citizen TV.
In a radio interview with Massawe Japanni, she said she had 12 siblings but most of them (10) are dead, many falling in the space of a decade.
"My parents also died a long time ago. Something bad came and I only have one sibling left. We were never sickly and I do not know what happened," she said.
"They were dealing with life and when things changed, they couldn’t fight for life anymore.
"Most of my earlier years were spent mourning. When you mourn this year, as you are starting a new year, someone else dies."
Charity has been acting on 'Mother-In-Law' for almost 12 years. She is loved and hated in equal measure for her role as the nosy mother-in-law.
She narrated her journey to stardom, saying acting has been part of her life.
"I used to act from my days back at Alliance Girls High School. I was taught by my headmistress, who used to teach English and Literature. I got my acting skills from Alliance as I used to perform in several plays," she said.
Her role in 'Mother-in-Law' came because the directors wanted someone who could play a different role, and he found out about her in a book titled 'Mutu'.
"I acted as Mutu’s second daughter and after reading it, that’s how the director got to know about me. My name was in there," she said.
Charity was also a teacher by profession.