In 2004 Paul and I decided we needed more free time for ourselves and for our personal interests and passions so I started to import and sell hand painted Textiles from Zambia. This bush based enterprise in Zambia that was empowering communities inspired me to set up Sanjan with Paul in Tanzania. The safari world is quite narrow sometimes and by being directly involved with communities I felt closer to Africa.

I became involved with The Maasai Women Art project in 2006 (www.maasaiwomenart.net). This project was started and funded by the Italian NGO Istituto Oikos in Milan (www.istituto-oikos.org). Their aims were to improve the incomes of Maasai women by helping in the training of these strong willed ladies to produce their traditional beaded jewels with a higher quality and an innovative design that could suit western tastes as well. With the help of an Italian jewellery designer, that came to see this project and to study their jewellery, we managed to create a collection of wonderful beaded products that are now sold in East Africa and overseas.

In April 2008 the Tanzanian based Company Tanzania Maasai Women Art was set up to allow the legal commercialisation of the products. Some of these communities have stopped chopping down trees to make charcoal as the incomes from the beadwork replace the previous one generated by this ‘illegal’ cutting of timber. It is so satisfying to watch this process of empowerment as results of our efforts develop. The response and collaboration of these women’s groups which seemed reluctant in the beginning has been a major reward, of course there is still a long way to go and the lack of education is disempowering these brave women. As the main and biggest group of women at Mkuru village (120 women) have now been legally registered as a Cooperative I feel we are really getting somewhere. I would like to see some of the younger girls of this community getting involved in the management of this organisation to ensure the cooperative’s future. It is our commitment and the long term relationships we have with these communities that help these moves forward.

In these two years as I have got to know these Maasai women better, I have developed an incredible respect and admiration for their strength, their pride and their sense of humour. They live an incredibly harsh life which is often dictated to them by their men, they are unbelievably brave and strong and I believe they deserve a better future. As these projects grow and become more sophisticated I learn how better to plan such endeavours and am determined to expand these ideas into more communities.

   

<< Back to first page