For generations, guides have led worshipers through the ancestral prayer caves in Chasimba, along Kenya’s coast. When an Emirati-backed company threatened the caverns to make way for cement production, the community fought back. The dispute split the community and exposed broader tensions between economic development and cultural preservation. Even the Kenyan government was divided. Click link on bio to read more. >> nytimes.com/2025/09/19/world/africa/how-kenyan-villagers-saved-their-sacred-caves-from-a-mining-company.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nE8.X4-p.ie6Er7uZOe5O&smid=url-share Words by Sarah Hurtes sarah_hurtes. Photos by Brian Otieno storitellah for nytimes #storitellah #storitellahdiaries #tellahtales