Mombasa, Kenya: It is a tale of three cities.
To the north up the Kenyan coast is Lamu Town, its small streets humming with the sounds of chisels and hammers crafting Swahili doors, and donkeys carrying heavy loads of coral limestone. Locals and tourists jockey for space in the zigzagging alleys, with shops selling everything from silver jewelry to body products made with locally grown baobab.
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WARSAW — Every day outside of a shop at 61 Mokotowska Street, an intriguing dance of sorts happens: A smattering of men and women of all ages walk out onto the sidewalk and smell the top of their hands or the inside of their wrists. Some smile, others look quizzical, and a few seem to simply get lost in thought. After a few moments, they re-enter the shop and, after a short interlude, the dance repeats. Read more
LONDON — In certain social circles, Anne Singer is something of a monogramming legend.
The French-born Ms. Singer, whose husband’s great-grandfather Isaac Singer invented the sewing machine, established the Monogrammed Linen Shop four decades ago on Walton Street, an enclave in the Chelsea/Kensington area that’s lined with upscale shops. For everyone from Hollywood celebrities and European royalty to expatriates and the posh British set, her sweetly designed and monogrammed baby pillows, personalized linens and home accessories became gift-list perennials. Read more
As Iver Rosenkrantz and Patrick Tendayi Zindoga drove through the fertile countryside of northern Zimbabwe one day in late 2018, they noticed something out of the ordinary: A woman who had just started plowing a field with a few oxen under the scorching sun was entirely on her own. Read more
Kabage Karanja had one of his earliest and most profound experiences when, as a teenage member of Hodari Boys, a youth mentoring club, he camped in the Suswa Caves, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya.
It was a special memory for Mr. Karanja, now an architect, partly because “I remember waking up in the middle of the night,” he said, “and there was a Maasai warrior just standing there, watching us sleep.” Read more