![]() The town’s electricity generators are powered by diesel stored in giant, rusted barrels brought in on a small power boat. Otherwise, everything – bread, sugar, charcoal, cigarettes – is transported from one section of the island to the other on the backs of sturdy donkeys. There are only a few cars on the island – the alleyways too narrow to support them – along with a small handful of motorbikes. He is back on the island and on this occasion, someone had invited him for tea. He was once married to a British woman, with whom he had two children, and lived in Bristol for a time. But the Swahili culture has gradually eroded with an influx of wealthy foreigners and members of other, non-Muslim tribes now the town’s spiritual leader, Imam Idarus, worries that the incoming port project (slated for the mainland nearby) will draw even more people that will eventually overrun the cultural fabric that knits this community together. ![]() In time, thanks to a Shariff named Habib Swaleh, Lamu became one of the most respected centers for Islamic education in Africa, a role that still stands today. For seven hundred years the Swahili people have led a tranquil existence among the mangroves and coral reef that, respectively, provide construction material for their homes and boats and shelter for fish. Lamu’s enclave of UNESCO-protected Swahili culture – an enduring tradition born from a fusion of coastal Bantu and Arab traders that settled here centuries ago – is threatened by a multi-billion dollar port project. Young Swahili “beach boys” ride in a traditional dhow in Lamu, which is threatened by a multi-billion dollar port project.
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