Without urgent investment in culture and coast, East Africa risks turning heritage into a footnote beneath its own hotels.
By Staff Writer
The morning after memory
At sunrise, Lamu breathes like a relic in motion. Coral-stone alleys blush with apricot light as fishers prepare dhows and women sweep woven mats in silence beneath ornately carved mashrabiyas. Mombasa Old Town stirs to the same rhythm: a muezzin’s call lingers over spice-laden stalls, and sun flares across crumbling facades.
But beyond these scenes of quiet dignity, something else stirs. Bulldozers. Blueprints. Rooftop pools advertised as “heritage inspired.” The very soul that draws travellers to the coast is being outbid – by speed, steel, and souvenir economics.
Matondoni: The fabric of identity
In Matondoni, a Bajuni village of 2,000 on Lamu’s western shore, heritage is not curated—it is inherited. For centuries, its residents have mastered mat weaving, basketry, dhow carpentry, and rope-making using coconut husk.
“We inherited these skills from our forefathers,” says Swabra Musa, 41. “They are our identity as the Bajuni community in Matondoni.”
“Mwacha mila ni mtumwa”—those who abandon their culture become slaves to others.
A 2023 report by Eastleigh Voice notes that children here learn craft before arithmetic. These skills are not performative. They’re lived.
“We are not stuck,” adds weaver Nyee Yusuf, 46. “We are anchored.”
Still, as regional trade declines and tourists demand “fast, cheap, and exotic,” Matondoni’s economy wobbles. The village’s exports are fading—but its pride endures.
Tools of revival: Skanda & Almasi
Abdullah Ali Skanda is one of Lamu’s most revered artisans. On 29 June 2020, he unveiled his Kijumwa-style Swahili door carved for Kenya’s Parliament Buildings—a national symbol sculpted in a salt-air alley.
Skanda now mentors apprentices like Mercy “Almasi” Jelagat, a 32-year-old former government engineer turned woodcarver.
“It made no logical sense—but emotional sense,” Almasi says of her career shift. “Now I create with purpose, not pressure.”
Her trays and utensils mix Swahili geometry with minimalist flair—proof that heritage can evolve without being erased.
Cracks in the Archive: State of the sites
While artisans protect heritage with chisels and fiber, Kenya’s landmark sites crumble. A 2024 report by The East African reveals that over 1,200 sites under the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) face structural decay:
- Fort Jesus, Mombasa: corroded by tides and raw sewage
- Vasco da Gama Pillar, Malindi: eroded by cliff collapse
- Jumba la Mtwana: collapsing walls and unchecked vegetation
- Rabai Church Museum, Shimoni Slave Caves: understaffed and unfunded.
According to the National Treasury’s 2024/25 Budget Estimates, NMK faces a Ksh 1.4 billion shortfall—a 44% gap between what it requested (Ksh 3.2 billion) and what it received (Ksh 1.8 billion). This underfunding is not new. Parliamentary submissions and past records reveal similar gaps in 2022/23.
As outlined by NMK Director-General Dr. Mary Gikungu, the effects are staggering: artifacts at risk in leaking rooms, stalled research, crumbling archives, and a brain drain of museum staff.
Even the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2024–2027, published by the National Treasury, shows only marginal increases—nowhere near what’s needed for long-term rescue.
To stay afloat, NMK now leases venues, seeks private partnerships, and pursues international grants—all while appealing to lawmakers, as Dr. Gikungu warns:
“Kenya’s unique cultural and natural heritage hangs in the balance.”
The coral caretaker: Yaa’s reefs
Underwater, a different kind of conservator rises each morning. Pascal Yaa, a 72-year-old spear-fisher from Mombasa, has spent over five decades swimming Kenya’s reefs.
According to a 2024 study by CORDIO East Africa, Pascal restores coral beds by hand: re-righting toppled Porites heads, replanting broken Acropora branches, and removing kilograms of netting daily.
“Corals are homes. Kill one to catch a fish, and the home is gone,” he explains.
Pascal’s logbook shows most corals reattach within two years—a hopeful counterpoint to ecological despair. Through the Science for Active Management (SAM) program, he now trains fellow fishers to dive and see the damage themselves—many for the very first time.
From reef to roadmap: Obura’s vision
Marine scientist Dr. David Obura, writing in the 2023 IPBES/Oceans Alive Trust report, echoes Pascal’s truth:
“Coastal heritage doesn’t stop at the shoreline. What happens beneath the waves shapes life above them.”
Obura’s team at CORDIO integrates reef-health data into coastal planning and tourism policy—proving that marine ecosystems, like coral-stone alleys, are civic infrastructure.
A Blueprint for culture-led growth
A 2023 UNESCO strategy on Sustainable Cultural Tourism in East Africa recommends:
- Mapping heritage through community-led GIS platforms
- Mandating Heritage Impact Assessments for all major projects
- Dedicating 5–10% of tourism income to conservation
- Promoting adaptive reuse of historic homes and buildings
A Call to Ethical Action
Policy leaders
- Enforce marine and heritage reviews in development plans
- Fund local heritage councils and coastal co-management units
Developers
- Allocate 10% of budgets to ethical partnerships
- Hire artisans like Skanda, Almasi, Swabra, Pascal
Conscious Travellers
- Book heritage-certified stays
- Support community-led reef and cultural tours
- Learn five Kiswahili phrases – and use them
Final light: What we choose to remember
Each morning, the tide returns to Matondoni. It washes over carved prows and woven mats, over ancestral knowledge and fading coral groves.
We stand at a shoreline of decision: to build with heritage—or over it.
Because preservation is not nostalgia.
It’s the blueprint for a future rooted in dignity, not dispossession.
Let’s build it.
