THE BASECAMP MAASAI BRAND

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Empowering Disadvantaged Maasai Women

The Basecamp Maasai Brand (BMB) is a community-based handicraft workshop that empowers disadvantaged Maasai women and preserves the Maasai beading tradition at the same time. The fair trade certified BMB enables Maasai women to apply their beading skills to produce and sell their handcrafted products, providing them with a reliable source of their own income. Basecamp Masai Brand was initiated by Basecamp Explorer in 2003 as part of its responsible tourism operations and community-based development programs in and around its Basecamp Masai Mara camp located next to Talek village, bordering the Masai Mara National Reserve.

BACKGROUND

The Maasai are an indigenous tribe that has been living as semi-nomadic/seasonal pastoralists for centuries. Through the modernization that comes with a globalized world, the original Maasai lifestyle has become more and more difficult to maintain. An increasing population combined with the loss of grazing lands has resulted in a reduction in cattle livestock – traditionally the core source of income and basis of existence in Maasai culture and society. Poverty rates among many Maasai are high as they struggle for livelihood opportunities in an economic system foreign to their culture.

At the same time, in Maasai culture, the women’s role is restricted to rearing children and housekeeping. Just one generation ago, less than 20 percent of Maasai women in Kenya enrolled in school. Today, even with free primary school education in Kenya since January 2003, less than 48 percent of Maasai girls enroll in primary school, while only 10 percent of girls make it to secondary school. Due to cultural barriers and wide-spread illiteracy, Maasai women typically have no possibilities to equally contribute to their family’s income and participate in today’s economic system.

BACKGROUND

The Maasai are an indigenous tribe that has been living as semi-nomadic/seasonal pastoralists for centuries. Through the modernization that comes with a globalized world, the original Maasai lifestyle has become more and more difficult to maintain. An increasing population combined with the loss of grazing lands has resulted in a reduction in cattle livestock – traditionally the core source of income and basis of existence in Maasai culture and society. Poverty rates among many Maasai are high as they struggle for livelihood opportunities in an economic system foreign to their culture.

At the same time, in Maasai culture, the women’s role is restricted to rearing children and housekeeping. Just one generation ago, less than 20 percent of Maasai women in Kenya enrolled in school. Today, even with free primary school education in Kenya since January 2003, less than 48 percent of Maasai girls enroll in primary school, while only 10 percent of girls make it to secondary school. Due to cultural barriers and wide-spread illiteracy, Maasai women typically have no possibilities to equally contribute to their family’s income and participate in today’s economic system.

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HOW ELSE CAN YOU SUPPORT?

You can directly support the BMB and the Maasai artisans by visiting their workshop at Basecamp Masai Mara and purchasing handcrafted beading products from Basecamp Explorer’s camps in Spitsbergen and Kenya. Or you can do a donation contributing to raise USD 20’000 – the funds will be used to upgrade the BMB workshop site, enabling the Maasai women to introduce more designs and widen the range of their beading products.

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