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Close
off the coast of East Africa lies the fabled island and ancient Swahilli
town of Lamu. Visited by sea-faring strangers for hundreds of years,
Lamu's legendary hospitality accepts them all....... and whether Portuguese
or British Colonial, Arab trader or western traveller, everyone adds
to, and no one forgets..... its magic.
Among
the many obvious charms are dhows, donkeys, beaches and beachboys,
but one of the main reasons for its attraction is the extraordinary
sense of community. People walk or sail....or ride the donkeys. There
are no cars to isolate encounters so people are able to feel connected.
A stroll to the market to buy a mango will mean greeting.....(or ignoring...but
meeting) people from all over doing what they do, the normal activities
of life. While many may feel more or less privileged in regard to
each other, no-one seems to fell less "real". Communication and therefore
friendships develop which are increasingly impossible in the isolating
motorized towns. Part of this sense of community is in the rhythm
of life. The swahili people, mostly Muslims. pray together in ritualized
rows up to five times a day, following the singing calls to the Mosques
by the various public muezzini. Being that close together performing
traditionally choreographed worship engenders a special sense of comradeship,
strengthened by sailing, fishing and other group activities. This
social cohesiveness is much admired by visitors who often come from
countries where spiritual observances are not so obviously part of
the cultural activity.
Lamu
Island is made up of sand and mangrove. The sand saves it from being
polluted with roads and cars and produces the fresh water wells which,
even so near to the sea, keep the town surviving. The mangrove swanps
which encircle the islands in the whole surrounding archipelago, provide
building poles and sustain the complete eco-system.
Now,
which more people and more building, fresh water is becoming scarce,
and dredging and high-tech fishing and shipping is threatening the
mangrove and generally upsetting the long held balance of nature.
Lamu is being over exploited also by the careless handling of garbage
and insensitive development. The charming and appropriate venacular
architecture is being ruined by shoddy repairs and new buildings.
Sound familiar? And in Lamu, as everywhere, the poverty gap widens
as expectations rise.
Wildebeeste
Environmental Workshops has been set up internationally, but initially
in Kenya, to provide otherwise unemployed and often unemployable people
with creative work while stressing environmental awareness and action
at the same time. Using mostly local and recycled materials, members
of the WEWI group print, hammer, carve and stitch pieces designed
by themselves or by artists from all over the world...freely interpreted
by their talented hands.
Although
the Workshops started life with the mostly Wakamba women who live
on an up-country farm, the main base now is with the varied people
of Lamu. As well as printing traditional etchings and making paper
from local materials, there is an active Mkonokono (meaning "very
hand made") embroidery group composed of local women of mixed tribes.
They enthusiastically stitch wall-hangings and other cloth decorations
with various threads, yarns, tassles and beads depicting island themes
such as old carved walls, tropical vines with lizards and Arabic writing.
These "Mkonokonos" are now gracing private and public spaces all over
the world. In contrast to factory or field work, this work is sympathetic,
and even women who cannot sew are encouraged to join the group and
learn. Many have young children and cannot take other employment even
if it was available. With the "no such thing as a mistake" philosophy
of the workshops, sewing on these pieces is done without stress and
many are worked on in the homes on the floor with babies and kittens
etc. playing about.
In
1992 the WEWI group, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation,
was asked to contribute something to the people of the world via the
Global Forum Earth Summit which was held in Rio de Janiero. More than
one hundred islanders, using threads, sequins, beads and patches,
designed and embroidered some image representing what in nature they
would miss most if it were gone forever.
The
black squares (symbolising life from the dark...and the traditional
garment of island women is the black "bui bui" purdah) were then arranged
in an 150 ft. long "Story Snake" which was
paraded through the streets of Rio at the climax of the summit and has
since been touring the world. Lamu's lovingly-made pieces of individuality
and craftsmanship were but a tiny contribution towards that symbolic
gathering to heal the world, but it is a unique place and it needed
to be there. Lamu is a precious but ailing "canary down the mine" and
if this very special community cannot be saved than what does it augur
for the rest of the world? And if it can be loved enough.....it does
after all have friends all over the world and soon will have more....why
then we can do anything!
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