Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

Skirt, scarf, or both; sling for a child, basket for shopping, or both; bought to honor a special occasion, to give as a gift, or just to feel good tomorrow; its distinctive, one-line jina a proverb, a plea, a proclamation or a sunny burst of whimsy; above all, a social statement on a colorful cotton cloth. From rural villages to city streets, women and girls along East Africa’s coast do more than wear the popular rectangular kanga: They weave it into life, from birth to death, a “social medium” worn, traded and treasured, for designs, messages and memories.