Courting Courage

Courting Courage is Justice Martha Koome's attempt at answering the many questions asked about her life-some openly voiced and others implied. She applies a simple style to tell her life story-her birth and childhood in Kithiu village, Meru County, growing up in an African traditional setting facing discrimination and cultural prejudices and finally enrolling in school at the urging of her visionary mother. She did not give up on her education and her mother spared no effort to see her in school. Henceforth, she made up her mind to pursue a legal career in order to fight for the rights of women and children who were disadvantaged in age-old cultural prejudices.

Martha Koome graduated with LLB degree from the University of Nairobi and later earned a master's degree in International Law from the University of London.

While working as an advocate in private practice, she found herself developing a passion for family law, which mainly involved dealing with children and women cases. She chaired FIDA-Kenya, which accorded her the platform to intensify her advocacy work on women and children. She was first appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Kenya, then as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Later, she was appointed as Chief Justice, becoming the first female to hold the office in Kenya.

This is an incredible story of a life predicated on unending hope for a better tomorrow, resilience and courage that will resonate with the reader. Married early to her lifetime partner, Koome Kiragu, and navigating the pitfalls of motherhood and wifely duties with the delicate balance of studying law, which involved reading notes in matatus and writing term papers with one hand while breastfeeding with the other. She proclaims how she never needed to attend any class on feminism. "I lived it all."