Enabling the Dreams of Maasai Women

Traditionally, in the Maasai society, the role of a woman used to be confined to her home and household activities. This included taking care of their children, looking after the home, fetching water and firewood, milking the cattle and cooking for the family. Women are also the ones who construct the houses. 

With the change in time, younger generations of women are now taking up activities that can help sustain their homes financially. 

From managing shops in the market, to selling vegetables, to working as a tailor, one can see Maasai women in different roles that are widely different to their situation a few decades ago.

One of the most popular occupations for women is jewellery making. The Maasai beadwork jewellery is not only culturally significant, but also widely known across the world. It is a popular choice amongst the tourists to buy and take them back as souvenirs. 

To scale and sustain the local jewellery making, many villages now have women self-help groups. This system is called Vikoba in Maa language. 

There are 10 women self help groups in the Losimingori village of Arusha, consisting of 30 women each. Each group creates Maasai jewellery that they sell in local markets. A percentage of the total earnings for each month is donated to support a woman from the group. 

The women generally use this money to support their children’s education, or in their household needs like changing the roof of her house from grass to steel. 

Local schools use the example of this system to teach economics to children. Cheche Kivuyo Kerhmboti, a teacher, shared that he takes his students out to give them a practical experience of theories they read about in textbooks. This self-help group system teaches students about financial transactions and how it can help empower people. 

Most of the group meetings take place under a tree in the harsh sun. In collaboration with the Maasai community in the Losimingori village, we created a community centre that will benefit these women in not only having a central space to hold meetings but also to create their  jewellery. 

The women now meet at the center to make the jewellery and sell it to the tourists who stop by the center.