| Swahili Cultural Centre |
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The first Swahili Cultural Centre was established in Mombasa in 1993 as a joint project of the NMK, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Shortly afterwards a Centre was opened in Lamu town. The aim of these Centres is to train young men and women from Mombasa and Lamu Old Towns in traditional Swahili crafts; more importantly, the training includes business management, which provides the youth with the the much needed skills to become self-employed. Both Centres encourage micro-enterprise development for the youth in the Old Towns and in the coastal region as a whole. Malacology Unit A Malacology Unit, based at the Fort, is a constituent branch of the Institute of Primate Research (IPR) in Nairobi. The staff collect wild snails from the field and test them for schistosomiasis parasites. If positive, they are transferred to IPR for further investigation; if negative, they are infected with bilharzia ova and left to multiply. These are analysed and eventually dispatched to IPR where they are used in a schistosomiasis vaccine project. For More Information contact P.O.Box 82412, Mombasa. Tel: 041- 222947
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