"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."
My name is Carol Waithira Mühlenbrock.
It is always not easy for me to say what I am, because I have many Titles and I do many different things and Jobs!
I am a mother of two beautiful, intelligent, and lively Children. My daughter Anna-Nyawira is ten years old and it melts my heart when I see her dancing, she has been dancing Ballet since she was five. She is kind, thoughtful, passionate, creative and loving. She has an eye for beauty, a great sense of style and is so charmant even when she is criticizing you. She will make me remove my Lipstick three minutes before an interview because she thinks it doesn’t match my headscarf.
My son Jan-Karitu on the other hand, is the comedian in the family, he has a way with words and always makes me laugh. He is funny and clever and with his eight years, very inquisitive and knowledgeable. I think he is a lot like me, at least when it comes to talking….he talks and talks and talks! And when he talks, you listen, and this is because his way of telling stories and explaining things catches everybody’s interest. These two wonderful human beings continuously teach me patience, love, understanding, and even the German language.
Their innocence and naivety and always seeing the good in humans beings, makes me have hope that the world can in fact be a better place if we all chose Love and taught our children to be open and see all human beings as equals regardless of the colour if their skin, who they choose to love or pray to. That everything we now know, we were taught, even Hatred!
I am a wife to Stephan Hans Werner Mühlenbrock, a German guy, the nicest person I know. He slows me down when I spend too much time on the accelerating lane. With him, I never feel like I need to prove or change anything, I can relax and just be me, with all that I am, and he lets me know that I don’t need a wig, that I don’t need any kind of Armour, that I am enough, just the way I am.
I am an Entrepreneur, a Business Lady and an Employer.
I don’t do any of these jobs perfectly. There is a lot of juggling, and like Shonda Rhymes in her book “The Year of Yes” says, when you are doing and being one of these things, you are failing at the other. When I am busy creating a beautiful plate for a guest, I can’t read my children bedtime stories. It is a struggle, an emotional rollercoaster.
And that is why I am so proud of our employees, our team and the people I work with, who are like family to me, and who with their devotion and loyalty, let me have the space and the possibility to be all this!
I was born in Majengo,
a slum in Nanyuki, Kenya.
All six of us were raised by a single mother. While growing up, I never felt poor, I had no one to compare myself with, we didn’t even have a TV until I was about 14, so I was not open to what was happening around the world and what I possibly was missing. I even didn’t have books to read.
What I had was a creative mind which was full of imagination. I could draw my life in my head. This was my escape from everything that was happening around me. I knew that, although that slum was my best class, I did not belong there. I started doing interviews in front of mirrors since I was in primary school. I could talk for hours in front of the mirror; I asked and answered my own questions. In front of that mirror, I was everything and anyone that I wanted to be, I could speak any language I wanted to (Kikuyu, Swahili or English), I could say anything I felt like. Thinking about it now, the mirror was my girlfriend, boyfriend, sister, mother, father and even therapist. Somehow, it saved me and helped me stay sane and contained.
The first time I was interviewed because of my work as a Chef here in German, I knew exactly what to say. I had practised all my life, in another language, but it did not matter!
My brother David Munuhe, whom I give credit for the person that I am, protected me from becoming what many girls become when they are born and raised in such a place. He took me and sisters out of the slum, in the beginning only mentally, and later when we went to live with him in Nairobi. He made me believe that through hard work, I could become and do anything I wanted and dreamed of. He always said to me, “…in whatever you do, be the Best or among the Best. Whatever you do, give it your best”. He is the one person I would have loved to have on my side, as I, in 2019, in The Hague, Netherlands, received the AWE (African Women in Europe) Entrepreneur of the Year Award. This Award was actually his, or ours, and somehow, the Mirror had also played its part. At this point, allow me to call the Mirror the Power, also known as God!
That’s why it didn’t surprise me or him, when I did my Apprenticeship as a Chef here in Germany and was the best student during that year. At that time, my kids were 1 and 3. My husband brought our son to my school or college so that I could breastfeed during break time! Now imagine this scenario; my schoolmates or collegemates were 17-year olds, and here comes a 30 something year old lady who is breastfeeding at breaktime instead of smoking a cigarette with the others! They even said “SIE” to me. This is the respectful way in which you address especially the elderly here in Germany! Thanks to my Law studies in Kenya, I did my Apprenticeship in two years instead of three, I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
I came to Germany in 2006.
I worked as a dish washer, then waitress and later in 2010 as a Chef.
Lately during an Interview I did on one of my Shows, “Let me Cook your Dish” with Raul Genova, a Spanish guy living in Germany, he told me that there are 2 reasons why one leaves their country to live in another country, and that is; Love and/or Money.
I found love, but I also think, that the Idea of seeing something different or maybe even acquiring financial stability made my decision to relocate easier. I didn’t ask my then boyfriend to show me his bank statements, coz that didn’t interest me! It took me only a short while, 6 weeks to be precise, and I had a JOB earning my own money!!
Without the German language, I started cleaning dishes at my now Father in Law’s restaurant (his son is not the boyfriend I am talking about here, but that’s a story for another day). This is where my passion for food was ignited, this is where I found real Love, in different variations!
In 2016, my dream of owning my own restaurant came true.
We opened Haus Mühlenbrock Restaurant and Hotel
This is my third Child, and I took pleasure in dressing it and giving it the look, that I had so oft dreamt of, the African look. www.haus-muehlenbrock.de
I always create things in my head and I knew that I wanted my restaurant to be a place where one gets a feeling of Home away from Home, or where memories of that wonderful Holiday in Kenya or somewhere in Africa are awoken. Starting with the food, the Décor, all the way to the hospitality and comfort. I went to Kenya and carefully, full of passion and excitement chose every single item, the textiles, the carvings, the Lamu furnitures, every piece!
The first time we hosted Safari Dinner, something we do every year, shortly after sundowner, open air with nicely set tables, a fire place in the middle, a perfect 6 course Menu, romantic lighting and well-chosen wines, I felt like I was in one of the exclusive lodges in Maasai Mara. I was so thrilled to give my guests this experience. And these are some of my very special moments when I feel deeply connected to my roots and my aspirations. A feeling of Home!
This work fulfils me,
I do it passionately, I love cooking, this is where I earn my daily bread!
But I am also someone who is always on motion, I never allow myself to get comfortable. I keep challenging myself to reach greater heights. When I start getting restless, I always know that it is time to move, sometimes it is not clear where to, sometimes I also ignore the feeling and sometimes I just wander aimlessly before my soul GPS (God) gives me directions!
Around September 2019, I had that familiar feeling, and I knew that it was time, time to do something. At this point, I have to let you know, that this feeling, this feeling of wanting to move, does not always have positive results (or at least the results don’t always seem positive, in the first instance). In the past, I have made what I thought were mistakes, by acting on this feeling. It is the same feeling that made me get divorced in 2008. It frightens me at first when it comes, and I even try to fight it. I get scared because this feeling always means Change, and we human beings dread Change!
I was experiencing a difficult time emotionally and I felt the need to talk. I started posting Videos on Facebook talking about my problems, and the response was enormous! I saw the need to talk, I realized that we human beings, no matter who we are, are in need of one thing, to be heard. To have someone listen to you, to hear someone say you are not alone in this.
This led to the birth of Karibuni Jikoni
in January 2020. I wanted a place where I could invite people to come and talk, share, cook, interact, laugh, cry, sing, dance, network, teach learn and also have fun. And because this was a very personal thing for me, I had to do it in one of my favourite and special places, My Kitchen! You remember that thing of speaking in front of the mirror and doing interviews…here we are. It was time to create that for myself and with it, my fourth Child was born!
Now I feel like I am finally doing something for myself, I am giving that young ghetto girl (Jejea- My childhood name) a voice and a platform. I am letting her express herself, I am letting her know that her dreams are valid, and that all the hours she spent speaking to the Mirror were not in vain.
I still talk to the Mirror (God), I make time for those sessions which I now call prayers and I say everything I feel like saying and in any of the four Languages that I can speak. The fact that the Mirror doesn’t answer back or interrupt me, at least not immediately, makes our relationship easy and special, and you know why…because I love talking!!
I always wanted to have many children, so, the journey continues and the strange thing is, I always feel expectant, so it is always only a matter time before the next child arrives……or in Tyler Perry’s words “Higher is Waiting”
“Do not wait for someone to invite you to the table, create your own table”