Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o is mourning the death of her ‘daughter’ Nikita Pearl Waligwa which occurred over the weekend.
The late Waligwa played the role of a daughter to Ms Nyong’o in the Hollywood movie Queen of Katwe.
The young actress who has been battling brain cancer passed on at the TMR International Hospital in Naalya, Kampala, Uganda.
“It is with great sadness that I post about the passing of Nikita Waligwa, the sweet, warm, talented girl whom I worked with on the fim, Queen Of Katwe. She played Gloria with such vibrancy,” Ms Lupita posted on her Instagram account.
She further revealed that indeed the minor battled brain cancer for a long time and her thoughts were with the family and her community.
“May she truly rest in piece (sic). May it be well with her soul,” she further stated.
The film, which featured the two, has so far won two awards and has been a recipient of several awards since it was released in September 2016.
The movie is based on a true story of Phiona Mutesi who was an uneducated girl from a slum within Uganda.
The girl took up chess in 2005 and overcame all odds to become the first lady to win a Uganda’s junior chess championship.
The minor was first diagnosed with a tumour in 2016 and in 2017, she was declared cancer-free.
In early 2019, she was again diagnosed with another brain tumour.
She will be laid to rest on February 17, 2020, in Kabojja, Wakiso District, in the central region of Uganda.