Mama Africa, she is beautiful and vast. A landscape dotted with beautiful scenery and majestic creatures. A continent blessed in abundance from coastline to coastline. A place where the sun shines and the people smile, most of the time.
This is the story of a select few hard-working fishermen along Mombasa Island. With a longstanding comradery forged through the good and the difficult times. The wrinkles on their faces and hardened hands are scribed in detail, as though each fine line is entrenched with a tale of its own to share.
Generations removed from their ancestors, they struggle to make a living out of the sea.
To these men, fishing is a tradition passed down by those before them, not only for sustenance and prosperity but as a way of life. Their fear is that they might be the last in their line …. Their greatest threat, loss of their access to a historical informal port (Madhubaa).
They are fighting for access to use a beach that has been used by their predecessors longer than Kenya has been a Republic. This narrative involves a case involving land purchase, acts of carving off the beach by a private developer(s), construction of a stalled mosque that’s enshrined in controversy, harassment by goons, forceful evictions, strong arm tactics et cetera. A vicious cycle encapsulating the have and have-nots. At its tail end it involves time, money, greed, development and relevance of historical sites and practices. The disenfranchised have a face and these are theirs. A smile or a frown, both are equally as powerful…. This is the Tales of the wind (Madhubaa) picture series.