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Naishorua ene Leto
Naishoura ene Leto is a young Maasai woman who lives outside of Narok, Kenya. She is the organizer for a group of 15 Maasai women who are particularly destitute. The only source of income for these women is the making and selling of Maasai craft items. Most of the women are the bread winners of the family and use the income to buy food, clothing, and pay for school fees for their children. Each woman in the group is paid for the time that they make crafts. Naishoura is proud to let us know what she has done with the money she has herself received from our purchases. She was able to build her own house, using the traditional method of mud walls but adding an iron sheet roof. She has also been able to purchase 12 sheep. Most importantly, she has had enough money to continue to send all four of her children to school. Since the summer of 2002, the group has been making custom designed items for the Cincinnati Museum's traveling exhibition based on the book "Children Like Me". With the help of Peace Corps Volunteers Kristin Petersen and Scott Zmral, the group received copies of the pictures from the book of the young Maasai girl Esta and reproduced much of the jewelry she wears. Kristin and Scott man the computer at a service bureau in Narok with the women looking at the electronic pictures and acknowledging that they can make the jewelry Esta wears. Using materials that include cow skins, string from potato sacks, TV arial tubing, wire, and discarded plastic, the women create authentic items that enable American children to get a glimpse of how Maasai children their age live. |
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