MASAI EDUCATION FUND 

The Masai are an indigenous tribe of East Africa who maintain their traditional way of life as pastoralists. However, over the years, they have begun to lose vast grazing areas of their cattle due to nearby unsustainable farming, contamination of local water sources, and political disenfranchisement. As a result, their cattle, the source for which they depend for sustenance and survival, are dying rapidly from dehydration and starvation.

In an effort to combat the deterioration of their land and their culture, my friend who has long-since married into the tribe and who now has a young warrior of her own, recently initiated a campaign to raise money to send four members of the community to an environmental conservation program in Kenya to be trained in land management and sustainable grazing. The Mara Training Centre in Kenya (www.maratrainingcentre.com) “is a centre for holistic management that has in recent years established a locally led and trained community centred project that teaches pastoralists to sustainably manage their land and improve their livelihoods.”  The idea is that these individuals will return home to share their skills and knowledge effectively working to secure a better future.

I was inspired by this initiative to finally embark on my own, putting my skills and resources to use in an effort to help the people who would, and have, done the same for me.

If you would like to donate directly to this campaign please visit Stephanie's Masai Education Fund.  And if you would like to learn more about my relationship and connection to this Masai community and my adventures in fabric hunting, go on and check it out here!