Why The Role Of ‘Awinja’ Had Papa Shirandula Actress Jacky Vike Running For The Hills

Jacky Vike is a professional dancer, and no, not the twerking kind, she does ballet, Capoeira and other dance.  Thanks to her dancing skills she is also a dance and yoga instructor thus her lithe, well-defined body.

Something that she put a pause to when acting picked up. She managed to star in many productions including Wash and Set, Nairobi Half-Life, Papa Shirandula and off-camera she starred in countless theatrical productions.

Despite her assortment of theater and TV productions, one role stood out, a role that most Kenyans associate her with, Awinja a chatty household in Papa Shirandula. But as she reveals exclusively to Ghafla, the journey to being ‘Awinja’ was not easy.

She went for an audition and on the panel was Charles Bukeko (Papa Shirandula). She auditioned for a different character away from Awinja. Unfortunately, the project did not work out at first. After 6-8 months Bukeko called for the role of Awinja. A village bumpkin from the heart of Luhya Land with a thick Luhya accent.

She says she was skeptical at first on whether she would do justice to the character of ‘Awinja’ as she had never done accents before and she didn’t speak Luhya fluently. Because she spent a large part of her life in Nairobi and was only in Western for four years in high school.

She wasn’t for the idea, it was very challenging due to the accent.She decided to run for teh hills in panic recommending a friend in the process but Charles Bukeko insisted. Then she gave it a try and as they say, the rest is history.

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