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Mar
27
2024
By VELMA PAMELA, BIRD STORY AGENCY
Search and rescue diver Susan Mtakai shatters stereotypes and barriers at sea

Search and rescue diver Susan Mtakai shatters stereotypes and barriers at sea

LIFESTYLE
AS the water closes in over Susan Mtakai's head, she can't help thinking about how the depths she's about to descend to are so very alien to the life she was once used to. Born in the highlands of Taita, a county inland from the coast, her early experiences were of a landscape of hills and verdant forest. Growing up far from the sea was hardly what one would expect of someone who was to become a professional diver. Yet, in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean, Susan Mtakai is a calm and considerate team leader. Donning a well-worn…
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May
19
2023
By SHEILA MWALILI, BIRD STORY AGENCY
Transforming discarded flip-flop waste into sculptures

Transforming discarded flip-flop waste into sculptures

NEWS
SINCE 2006, a group of women and girls from Kilifi County in Kenya have collected washed-up flip-flops along the Indian Ocean weekly. The collected trash is then transported to a workshop in the capital city, Nairobi, where artists and wood sculptors carve out various animals for sale. "We have trucks that transport the flip flops from the Coast, and once they're received at the workshop in Nairobi, they're washed and dried before our artists can use them. We have a dry-cut machine for the small pieces that cut a rhino, an elephant or any other animal template. Those templates are…
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Feb
21
2023
By The African Mirror
As cyclone nears, Mauritius and Madagascar brace for floods, storm surge

As cyclone nears, Mauritius and Madagascar brace for floods, storm surge

NEWS
MAURITIUS grounded flights and shut its stock exchange as tropical cyclone Freddy approached the island in the Indian Ocean, while emergency teams braced for heavy rains, floods and landslides in four regions on Madagascar. The cyclone, packing wind gusts of up to 120 km per hour (75 miles per hour), posed a direct threat to Mauritius, its weather service said. "As Freddy approaches ... (a) storm surge is likely to cause coastal inundation in risk areas. It is, therefore, strictly advised" not to go to sea, the service's bulletin said. The cyclone could pass as close as 120 km (75…
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Aug
05
2021
By The African Mirror
As oceans warm, Zanzibar’s women sea farmers grow sponges to stay afloat

As oceans warm, Zanzibar’s women sea farmers grow sponges to stay afloat

ENVIRONMENT
KIM HARRISBERG NASIR Hassan Haji never thought of herself as a farmer or a swimmer, but as she waded into Zanzibar's blue waters with goggles pulled over her headscarf to examine her floating sponge farm, she realised she had surprised herself by becoming both. Alongside 12 other women in Jambiani village on the Indian Ocean coast, Haji has come to rely on the climate-resilient, natural sponges bobbing on thick ropes where they grow for months before the women harvest, clean and sell them to shops and tourists. "I learned to swim and to farm sponges so I could be free…
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