Our Journey Post Nairobi Design Week

Insights from our Interview with Mama Melta as illustrated by Mariastella Kamuti.

In March, during Nairobi Design Week 2025, we set up our stand hoping to share what we’ve been doing with the Samia community around Lake Victoria. To our surprise, people didn’t just pass by, they stopped, listened, asked thoughtful questions, and shared their own stories about their experiences. Many were especially curious about how traditional knowledge could play a role in addressing today’s climate challenges. Some stayed longer than expected, drawn into honest conversations about culture, regeneration, identity, and the environment. What followed was genuinely heartwarming. While our collaboration with Design Reparations was already ongoing, NDW gave us the chance to connect with a wider network and some of the biggest seeds planted came from the designers who showed interest in getting involved. Their engagement helped give shape and energy to two key projects we’ve been building since then: the Cultural Revival Project and the Regeneration Project.

The first of these two projects is the Cultural Revival Project, which seeks to document and celebrate Samia Indigenous knowledge. Our goal is to preserve ancestral stories, practices, and environmental wisdom that can inform sustainable solutions in the face of climate change. From farming methods and weather prediction to rituals of ecological balance, we are rediscovering a well of knowledge that has been overlooked and can guide us in our efforts against climate change and towards regeneration of our cultures and beliefs as Samia people.

The second initiative, the Regeneration Project, envisions a vibrant festival in Busia County that brings together traditional knowledge holders, local farmers, artists, and young people. This festival will focus on climate indicators, sustainable farming practices, and cultural history, creating a living platform for dialogue, learning, and celebration integrated in local knowledge.

Since Nairobi Design Week, we’ve hosted a total of five online meetings: three for the Cultural Revival Project and two for the Regeneration Project. These sessions have provided space for vision alignment, collective planning, and team alignment. Each circle has strengthened our connection to the community and the projects hence offering insights and shaping our direction going forward.

One of the most inspiring outcomes has been the volunteer support we received during Nairobi Design Week. Several individuals from the public, most designers inspired by our work, stepped forward to offer their time and skills freely. These volunteers have been instrumental in helping us find grant opportunities and have also contributed beautiful illustrations that depict the stories we’ve gathered from Samia elders. Their contributions have not only moved the work forward but have added a creative and collaborative spirit to our journey.

There’s also been a growing curiosity from people of all backgrounds, i.e., youths, elders and women who have heard about the projects. Many have reached out to learn more, ask about our progress, and express a desire to contribute. This growing support reinforces the importance of what we’re doing and confirms that these conversations that are aimed at reclaiming cultural knowledge and grounding climate solutions in indigenous wisdom—resonate far beyond our immediate circles.

As we look ahead, we are continuing to consolidate our research, expand our documentation of Samia knowledge, and prepare for the Regeneration Festival in Busia at the Bumbe Cultural Centre. These projects remind us that true paths to sustainability are not found in foreign ideas alone, but in returning to the wisdom of our ancestors—reviving the ways of our people and renewing our sacred relationship with the land and with one another.

Written by Ian Francis Onyango, Co-Founder, Kenge Content Hive.