Beadwork is a long founded art that dates years back
among the maasai communities in Kenya. It was normally done not for commercial
reasons, but as a cultural beautification practice that is endowed with diverse
beadwork patterns and styles for respective groups in the community with every
group(Morans, Young ladies, and Elders) with its own design. For the morans,
the mothers were assigned with the duty of making sure that her son looked
smart if at all he was to win the most beautiful girl in the village.
In
the above picture women groups from Laikipia county listen to the facilitator.
The Maasai tribe of Africa is well known for its
traditional handmade bead jewelry. Beadwork has been an important part of
Maasai culture for many years. Maasai women set aside time every day to meet
and work on beaded jewelry which includes colorful necklaces, bracelets, and
pendants. It is considered the duty of every Maasai woman to learn the jewelry
making craft. All the tribes beadwork is made by the women but is worn by both
women and men. The jewelry they create is not only beautiful but also has
important cultural significance. The beadwork an individual wears will signify
their age and social status. Generally individuals of high social standing will
wear more colorful and intricate jewelry. Beads also serve as an important
source of income for the Maasai. Tourist visiting the Maasai regions in Kenya
and northern Tanzania will find many beautiful pieces for sale that make great
gifts for women and for men. Often the Maasai will wear or give bead jewelry
for special occasions. Below is a list of some examples of this use.
Unmarried Maasai girls often wear a large flat
beaded disc that surrounds their neck when dancing. They use the movement of
the disc to display their grace and flexibility.
Women will wear a very elaborate and heavy beaded
necklace on their wedding day. The necklace often hangs down to the brides
knees and can make it very difficult for her to walk.
The Maasai have been creating bead jewelry for a
long time, well before their first contact with Europeans. Before contact with
the Europeans the tribe used the natural resources around them to create their
jewelry. These natural resources included clay, wood, bone, copper, and brass.
In the late 19th century trade with the Europeans made glass beads available to
the Africans. The Maasai started using these glass beads to make their
necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry. Today glass is still the main material
used by the tribe for their beads.
Orange - Symbolizes hospitality. The
association with cattle is that visitors are served cows milk from orange
gourds.
Yellow - like orange yellow also symbolizes
hospitality. The animal skins on visitors beds are yellow.
Green - symbolizes health and land. Cattle
graze on the green grass of the land.
Black -
represents the people and the struggles they must endure.
There
is a lot of dynamism in the world today, and much more is needed in order to
match the unforgiving competition. Many people are capitalizing on the maasai
intellectual property and value added maasai works are on sale on larger
markets of the world and its time maasai women embraced the modern beadwork
technology if they are to go commercial and earn a living from the work of
their hands.
Jane Saikong
a participant from the group is overwhelmed at trying a necklace from Fiji.
Yiaku Laikipiak Trust(YLT) has proposed to work with
local communities especially four (4) women groups that are working with
beadwork as a major economic activity on an exchange visit to Kajiado county,
with a purpose of giving them real exposure in terms of knowledge and skills in
modern beadwork. Under the UNDP GEF
SGP, Yiaku Laikipiak Trust
undertook a two (2) day exchange visit for 20 women from the county of Laikipia
to Kitengela in Kajiado County, to enable them share from diverse exhibitions
on the work that is being undertaken by other women and the skills they have
borrowed from others on not only how to
make beads the maasai way, but also go an extra mile to encompass the desire
and the likes of many within Kenya and the Diaspora. Having done much of their
work amongst themselves only, has tied them to restricted pattern making that
only serves the interests of very few in the locality. Today’s world calls for
much in terms of creativity and innovation in order to attract a larger market
for finished goods, and therefore borrowed skills and knowledge on value
addition are critical in achieving this noble coarse. The pastoral woman is
exhibiting excellence in other parts of the world, and therefore the main
purpose of the exchange visit was to look on the available opportunities in
three (3) major aspects;-
a) Look at it from a business
perspective
b) Identifying possible linkages and
networks for marketing
c) Identify partnerships for
strengthened skills development through training
The lead
facilitator bids the participants farewell as the leave for Laikipia.
Being close to the capital, and with regular and
multi-diverse cultures interacting, makes Kitengela a warehouse of
reciprocating innovations that have weaved
the best designs of beadworks in the modern world. This made
justification for choosing to visit
Kajiado and not Narok as earlier planned in the project work plan a decision
that yielded a lot of positive results and fully met the expectations of the
participants. The visit considered and employed all the aspects of a
participative interaction between parties involved in order to enhance quality
learning and ensure future replication by the visiting teams. A daily recap on
the experiences of the previous day helped at get participants focus on what
they have located and what needs to be seen and where. It equally helped the guide to
easily carryout a coordinated mission in ensuring the objective of the visit is
captured by the end of the activity schedule. It was the dream of the
organization which is envisaged in the project objective that, the exchange
visit will influence the participants decisions and inculcate a new concept in
traditional beadwork that targets to impact the present global market.
