People often take things for granted until some sort of event prompts them to realize how fortunate they are. For Kenyans, many view their immense, sparkling coastline as a simple fact of life without giving much thought to protecting this treasure. Thanks to the efforts of filmmaker Jahawi Bertolli, however, a newfound appreciation is developing, and action is being taken. So far, his work has focused mainly on the Lamu Archipelago along Kenya’s northern coast, where his wife Elke Bertolli, also a photographer and filmmaker, grew up. Lamu is a hidden gem, he says, and filming has led to new discoveries. In 2020, Bertolli made a short film about Lamu’s sea life and the conservation traditions of the local fishers. He called it “Bahari Yetu” – “Our Ocean” in Swahili – and began showing it the local community. The screenings were a gamechanger, he says: “When you bring back that imagery, all of a sudden people are like, ‘Oh my God. Wow, this is ours … this is our heritage, these are our reefs, this is what’s happening underwater in our ocean.’”
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