Lupita: Why it took me so long to come home
Oscar Award winner Lupita Amondi Nyong’o on Tuesday cleared the air on her long stay from Kenya, a year after bagging the prestigious price, explaining that her schedule has been busy.
The question on whether she has been avoiding her homeland after becoming a Hollywood superstar was the elephant in the room during a press conference at the Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel.
But Lupita explained that it was purely her career engagements that kept her away from home.
BUILDING CAREER
“The nature of my job as an actor is that I have to be present where the work is happening and that is really what has been keeping me away from home because I have been busy building the career that you are all so proud of me for and so it’s taken time to find the time to step foot officially in Kenya,” said the actress.
Lupita donned a mixed print African dress with blue shoes and could not hide her excitement during the press briefing.
“I hope it’s never too late to come home, you know …it’s nothing more than the logistics of my life that have had to be certain things and I am particularly pleased that I have come with something to say,” she said.
The actress was in the company of her mother Dorothy Nyong’o, who introduced a short video of a six-year-old Lupita singing about elephants back in 1990.
Lupita’s newly married sister Esperanza and brother Peter Nyong’o junior were also at the press briefing.
HOMECOMING TOUR
The actress is currently on a homecoming tour that will include art mentorship activities, as well as an awareness campaign on wildlife conservancy efforts in the country.
During the tour, she will feature in various conservation adverts for television and billboards. She will also host a Sh10, 000 per person dinner gala on Thursday.
Tanzanian musician Ali Kiba, who was also present at the event, urged East African states to work towards ending poaching in the region.
He lauded Ms Nyong’o for representing the region well in the film industry.