Mary Stone

Founding Member, Friends of Lamu Cultural Heritage. Born and raised in the US, I’ve been a stakeholder in Lamu Island, Kenya for 36 years. My current passion involves the restoration of historic buildings in Lamu Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As founding member of Friends of Lamu Cultural Heritage, we’ve achieved Lamu’s listing on World Monument Fund’s 2025 Watch List. We’ve completed a nine month Urban Heritage Regeneration Accelerator Program hosted by CHiFA in conjunction with OWHC. We are gathering information through trainings to raise local awareness and find funding for intervention to save Lamu’s unique tangible and intangible heritage which has been incrementally accelerated by climate change. I’ve worked with The Flipflopi Project, a team of champions fighting plastic pollution. We’ve created a circular economy based on purchasing discarded plastics from the community which are then recycled into heritage based products. We actively work on waste management legislation and create awareness and education programs to stop our dependence on single use plastics. Foremost is to stop the burning of plastics, the main mode of disposal and hugely damaging to our environment. I’m Director of The Island Children’s Fund, a 35 year non-profit program assisting schools and students throughout the Lamu Archipelago. We provide students with financial support to pursue their Secondary and Tertiary education, and help schools with small infrastructure projects to improve the Archipelago's learning environment. I’m a proud member of the Lamu community finding fulfillment through helping my community live their best lives possible while honoring and supporting our unique cultural heritage.