Women’s groups
We are connected to local women’s groups and support them with business training: ideas and skills to generate an income and solve their challenges through entrepreneurship.
Get involved
Our community in Jacaranda
Everything you wanted to know about the local community of Watamu, and how you can be part of it during your stay.
“Mijikenda” means a collective of nine: nine groups, nine dialects, one people.
Who our neighbours are
Marafiki Holidays is based in Jacaranda, Watamu, surrounded by Mijikenda and Swahili communities. The Mijikenda are a Bantu people made up of nine groups under one collective tribe, well known for their wonderful hospitality and their ever-present smiles.
Muslim communities live here too, including the Bajuni and the Wagunya. Most families earn their living from fishing, mining and small-scale farming of coconuts, cassava and maize.
9Mijikenda groups in one people
Monthlybeach clean-ups with local partners
Makutihouses built from mud, soil and coconut leaves
How you can help
What we do together
Marine conservation
With community-based organisations we work on marine conservation, organise monthly beach clean-ups and host community workshops.
Dance, food and a makuti house
On a community visit the women’s traditional dance groups perform for you, you taste Swahili dishes freshly made in the village, and you can learn to build a traditional house of mud, soil and makuti.
Jacaranda Community Library
Empowering young readers, learners and environmental stewards
A free, community-run learning space for primary and secondary school children from the Jacaranda coast and northern Watamu, in Kilifi County. The library was set up by the non-profit rise, which works to reduce poverty through entrepreneurship and youth empowerment, and opened in March 2025 thanks to KWEST (Kenya Watamu Educational Support Trust), who donated the books and teacher training.
- 485
- children welcomed since opening
- 87
- schools, from PP1 to Grade 9
- 4,000+
- learning days attended
- 140
- children a day in the school holidays
A safe place to read, learn and eat
Children come to read and write in English, and more recently Italian, to build confidence and a love of learning. Some walk up to two hours to get here. Many come from households where food insecurity is a daily reality, so the library serves a nutritious lunch every day the children attend, helping them focus, take part and thrive.
Volunteers give their time and skills for yoga, crochet, music and Taekwondo, building creativity, discipline, teamwork and self-esteem.
Opening hoursSaturday mornings and public holidays during school term. Monday to Saturday, 8am to noon, in the school holidays. Around 40 children come in term time and 80 to 140 in the holidays.
Junior Ranger Programme
Caring for the place they live
Environmental education is at the heart of the library. With Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, the library launched the Junior Ranger Programme in November 2025, teaching children about conservation and the ecosystem they live in: the UNESCO Malindi–Watamu–Arabuko-Sokoke Biosphere Reserve.
Every child gets a Junior Ranger Passport and earns a stamp for each positive action, from beach clean-ups to using what they learn at home. Ten stamps earn a field trip to places such as the Snake Farm, Local Ocean Conservation, the Gede Ruins and Watamu Marine Park.
The children join quarterly community beach clean-ups and share what they learn through songs, poems and posters about reducing, reusing and recycling plastic. The local non-profit I Do It For You adds film screenings on conservation, such as protecting the mangroves, and on life skills.
How you can help
Bring something in your suitcase
The library relies entirely on individual sponsors, local hotels and restaurants, and local and international volunteers. Schools and organisations can partner with it too. Donations that make a real difference:
- Kiswahili and English books
- Educational games
- Pencils, pens, rulers and rubbers
- School bags, chalk and paper
- Used PE kits, clothes and shoes
- Food items and drinking water
Contact the library: community@riseint.org · +254 791 039 977
Visit the library with us
Book your trip
Visit the Mijikenda community
A community visit can be added to any stay in Watamu. Meet the families, join a beach clean-up or spend an afternoon in the village, and see where part of every Marafiki trip goes.
Follow along
News from Jacaranda
Clean-ups, workshops and life on the beach, shared on our social channels.
Visit the community with us
Community visits can be added to any stay in Watamu. Ask us for dates.