Years of Rebuilding
Around 2017, writer Wanjiru Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka began their journey of rebuilding the McMillian Library. This library sits in the heart of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the hometown of the two women. This historical institution was privately built in 1931 by British settlers and is currently owned by the government.
The space was dilapidated and full of books written by white men when Koinange and Wachuka took on caring for the library. At the time, the women received a five-year agreement from the government to renovate and manage the library. The documentary, How To Build A Library, directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, shows an inside look into what the women have been going through to make this space a community hub that represents the community it resides in.
How To Build A Library screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
“It’s important to us in the city that we live in that we have spaces that reflect the funkiness of Nairobi. Nairobi’s full of young people. It’s a vibrant city, full of lots of great culture, and so in restoring this library, we hope that it reflects all the different lives that are resident in the city, and we hope that it’s something that also carries and remembers the history that it comes from. But carries hopes for the future of a city and nation that is mostly full of young people,” Koinange said to the Carvd N Stone Team.
A Goal to Change A City
Koinange and Wachuka have no background in rehabilitation or local government, so they’ve encountered lots of hiccups throughout their years. Despite a lack of knowledge, the two have raised millions of dollars and have brought books written by people who represent Kenya into the library for the community to enjoy and read. They’ve even secured grants, so the library has computers.
“I think it’s super important because libraries are the one spaces where you can really peddle dignity to people who haven’t always been offered the kind of means to get the information they need to change their lives. So we see these spaces like palaces of people where you can come and get all the information you need to better your life [and] to better the life of your community,” Wachuka said to the library.
Koinange and Wachuka are striving to fully renovate the McMillian Library despite government pushback.
“In the world of Kenya, and everywhere, we really need to focus on the things that we have in common, and I think libraries are spaces that really foster that community, said Wachuka.
