Penelope Penelope is a middle-class Kenyan woman living in Nairobi where she works as a free-lance filmmaker. Her mother is Kenyan and her father is German. She was born in Germany in 1985 and became a German citizen because at the time, the Kenyan Constitution did not permit a Kenyan woman who gave birth overseas to confer nationality to that child. In 1988, Penelope’s family moved back to live in Kenya. She completed her early schooling years in the country and then went on to study in France, Holland and South Africa for her high school and tertiary education. While living in Capetown in 2005, Penelope felt the importance of her Kenyan and African identities and in 2010 made the decision to move back to live in Kenya. Although Penelope identified with being Kenyan, at the time she did not hold Kenyan nationality, nor did she have any way to acquire it. Because she was a ‘foreigner’ working as an independent filmmaker in the country, she struggled to obtain and renew her work permits, which were the only way that she could stay and work. In 2009, Penelope became aware that forthcoming Constitutional change in Kenya would finally mean that she would be able to acquire Kenyan nationality through her mother. She says: “I and many of my friends who were also born overseas with Kenyan mothers were very excited about this development and we wanted to take advantage of it. I wanted more freedom, more independence. Given that I had made a decision to live in Kenya, getting Kenyan citizenship would put an end to dealing with bureaucracies to get my work permit renewed. It would make it easier to buy property, to be seen as part of the community.” In 2010, when Kenya passed its new Constitution, by law Penelope became a Kenyan citizen. This is because the Constitution now permitted Kenyan mothers who had given birth to children overseas to pass on their nationality to these children. This provision was also passed with retroactive effect. Penelope also needed to get a Kenyan national identity card to prove her new citizenship. However, the process of obtaining a Kenyan ID proved to be extremely difficult for Penelope. This is despite the fact that she was from a wealthy and well-connected family. Penelope says that the entire process of acquiring the Kenyan national identity card took 7 months and she had to “buy a lot of sodas” (pay bribes) along the way. She remembers that “the thing that shocked me the most was that only three out of ten officials whom I met during the process were even aware that this law reform had taken place and that I was permitted to get Kenyan nationality from my mother. In fact the most commonly held view was that Kenyan nationality could only be acquired if your father was a Kenyan.” Penelope said that the process of obtaining proof of Kenyan nationality was also quite intimidating and she and her mother faced a lot of discrimination along the way. She says that if she and her mother had not been well-educated and aware of their rights, they might easily have given up. Penelope has now held a Kenyan national identity card for 4 years and says that it has been very important for her professionally and personally. However, she still feels very emotional when she thinks about the stress and struggle she went through to realize her right to Kenyan citizenship.