Pina Ercolano, South Africa

Pina Ercolano is considered one of the rising stars on the Kenyan swim scene.  Often part of a team consisting of Jason Dunford, Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, David Dunford, Amar Shah and Akshay Shah, she is in great company.

She won the bronze medal in the African Championships in South Africa and is plugging forward with an eye to the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. She was unable to compete in the 2008 Olympics as a wildcard entry because both Jason and David Dunford had qualified, eliminating her from the running.

Keep an eye out for this rising star.  Her journey is just beginning!

Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, Plymouth, United Kingdom

Achieng Ajulu Bushell

Achieng Ajulu-Bushell represented Kenya in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

An incredible swimmer, she has got great poise and presence for a 15-year-old. She has broken several records including:

1. Swimming the 50m breaststroke in 32.22 in the 2008 FINA World Championships.

2. Swimming in the 50 metres breaststroke, the talented Achieng swam in 32.64 to set a new meet record at the 2008 Africa Senior Swimming Championship

3. She set more than 30 Kenyan records, including Open standards over 50, 100 and 200m freestyle as well as 50m breaststroke and butterfly at various South African meets in 2006 at the age of 12.

There are more records and she is young, so I am sure she will be providing lots of fodder for great stories on remarkable acheivements in the swimming arena.  The daughter of Professor Rok Ajulu, and step-daughter of the new South African Minister of Defence, Ms. Lindiwe Sisulu, she is making her own history and promises to be a name that will be repeated in awe in swimming circles around the world!

Rok Ajulu, Capetown, South Africa

Prof Rok Ajulu and Judge Fikile Bam (left)

As minister for Defence in the cabinet named by new South African President Jacob Zuma, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu is undoubtedly one of the most powerful persons in the African powerhouse.

Ms Sisulu is the wife of a Kenyan, Prof. Rok Ajulu, one of the academics who fled the country at the height of the Moi repression targeting independent thinkers and perceived dissidents in the early 1980s.

Prof Ajulu told the Daily Nation on Tuesday that he was not surprised about the appointment since his wife was a fairly senior minister already.

“You are aware she has previously held very senior positions. Having been minister in the Intelligence docket, she has a feel of the happenings in the Defence ministry,” he said.

Prof Ajulu was in Kenya just a month ago, and while visiting prefers to stay in his rural home in Bondo “because it is cheaper”. His wife will accompany him home for a Christmas party later this year where they intend to spend over ten days.

Despite his long period away, Prof Ajulu has never forgotten his Kenyan roots. He has been a regular visitor since the fall of the one-party regime, and maintains close contact with his compatriots from the days of the struggle, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Lands minister James Orengo and Health minister Anyang’ Nyong’o.

His daughter from a previous relationship in England, Achieng Ajulu Bushell, retains close ties with Kenya. An international swimmer, she opted to represent Kenya rather than England or South Africa.

The new Defence minister and her husband are both children of and veterans of the struggle.Ms Sisulu is a daughter of freedom struggle icons Walter and Albertina Sisulu and an icon of the anti-apartheid campaign in her own right. She was arrested and faced a life sentence at 24!

Prof Ajulu took the mantle from his father Stephen Odero Ajulu, who was a political activist in the 1960s under the then opposition Kenya People’s Union. When his father died, Prof Ajulu stepped into the role as an adviser to then opposition leader Oginga Odinga, and then maintained a long collaboration with his son, Mr Raila Odinga.

Prof Ajulu’s father was imprisoned for political activities in Kenya while Ms Sisulu’s parents were imprisoned by the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Prof Ajulu was expelled from the University of Nairobi for political activism and ended up in South African exile via England and Lesotho.

Ms Sisulu also took up political activism and was also imprisoned by the apartheid regime before going into exile to continue her studies at the University of Lesotho. That was where the two met and eventually married in 1996.  In addition to children from previous relationships, the couple has a son, Olindi Obango, named after his paternal grandparents.

Che Samora Ajulu is the eldest son and is named after the revolutionary Cuban and Mozambican leaders, Che Guavera and Samora Machel. There is also a daughter Ayanda and a son, Vuyo.

Source: Daily Nation