Matondoni village: A community in danger

On a recent field visit to Matondoni Village, a place known for its rich culture, beautiful sights, craftsmanship, and dhow-making, we were struck not by the charm but by the crisis. A mountain of waste, plastics, bottles, bags, wrappers, old fishing nets, and household litter was strewn along the shores, kissing the waves of the Indian Ocean. This wasn’t just trash. It was a silent scream from our environment.

It told a story of a people unknowingly poisoning the lifeblood that has sustained generations. It told a story of neglect, of loss, and a future in peril.

We were in Matondoni under the project “Building Climate Futures in Lamu”, a project supported by SouthSouthNorth and implemented by the Lamu Women Alliance. Our goal was to engage the community in identifying the challenges, threats, risks, and opportunities posed by climate change. We knew the threats would be there. We were not, however, prepared for how personal, urgent, and heartbreaking that would be.

For centuries, the people of Matondoni have depended on the ocean. It has provided food, water, transport, and a way of life. But now, that very ocean is being choked by our actions or more precisely, our inactions. Plastic waste clogs the shoreline, tangles around mangrove roots, and floats on the surface. With every tide, more litter is washed out to sea, threatening marine life in irreversible ways. Fish ingest plastic micro-particles, they are suffocated by waste, and mangrove ecosystems, which are vital buffers against coastal erosion and breeding grounds for fish, are being destroyed.

What broke me most was hearing the stories of the women and children. In almost every climate issue, they bear the greatest burden, and in Matondoni, this is painfully true. Women, who are primarily responsible for household care, cook meals with dwindling firewood or contaminated fish, and care for sick children suffering from illnesses linked to waste and pollution.

When marine life declines, it means lower household incomes. Girls are often the first to be pulled out of school to help supplement family labour or cut costs. It’s a chain reaction, and the root is not just poverty or climate change; it’s the way we treat our environment.

When I asked a mother of five what she feared most, she said, “Siku moja, watoto wetu hawatakuwa na chochote cha kuvua. Bahari itakuwa imekufa.” (One day, our children will have nothing left to fish. The ocean will be dead.)

This is real fear, one that can only be stopped by our choices today. It is not a distant problem for someone else to solve. This is our problem, our coastline, our responsibility. We must first recognise that throwing litter into the ocean is not just a habit, it’s a form of slow violence against ourselves, our future, and our children.

Here’s what we can do, starting today:

• Refuse single-use plastics where possible.
• Re-use containers, bags, and materials.
• Recycle where options exist or demand for them to be established.
• Educate our children, our neighbours, our elders on why these matters are important.
• Organise beach cleanups as a community.
• Speak out against polluting practices and lead by example.

Lamu Women Alliance, through the Building Climate Futures in Lamu project, is committed to supporting local solutions. We are working with youth, women, elders, and community leaders to share knowledge, provide training, and advocate for systems that protect our environment.

But we cannot do this alone. We need you. Your voice matters because a healthy ocean is not a luxury. It is a right. And it is our legacy.

Written by Purity Kadzo, Lamu Women Alliance.