Beautifully hand crafted bead-work jewellery made by talented Maasai artisans in Kenya...
Starting with just one Maasai widow and a few beads, RedTribe has slowly grown to 20 artisans and sells world wide.
RedTribe aims to empower marginalised Maasai women in the remote Loita Hills in Southern Kenya.
We work together to create a beautiful contemporary product using traditional Maasai beadwork techniques.
With rare and endangered colobus monkeys jumping overhead, our artisans will sit on the grass under the shade of the trees outside their workshop when they meet up every day to drink chai, chat and make beadwork jewellery together.
Nontinanna, a lovely young Maasai women from the local community has been empowered to manage the team, while I work to market and generate sales from the UK. I visit regularly to help create new designs and to spend gorgeous time with the team.
We have a beautiful workshop and wild garden, built by local Maasai, where the beadwork is carefully finished by Nontinanna and her dedicated team of skilled ladies. The jewellery is then checked to make sure they are of the highest quality before they are sent to the UK, USA, Australia and South Africa to be sold.
I'm based in Devon and coordinate the sales in the UK where our products are sold and shipped worldwide.
As well as providing a fair wage for our artisans, RedTribe also empowers girls through education by paying the school fees for a number of gifted Maasai girls who come from poorer families. These girls would otherwise undergo FGM and forced early marriage -but instead they are given an opportunity to receive an education and make their own informed decisions for their lives.
One of the girls RedTribe is sponsoring through school a has just successfully finished her secondary education and is preparing to go to University to study law.
We are so proud of her as she is the first girl in the whole community to achieve this. She is a strong and beautiful person who has had the courage to refuse to undergo FGM and is a wonderful role model for other girls.
RedTribe has also supports the Maasai academy (a locally run primary school developed by RedTribe) and has helped to train female teachers.
RedTribe seems to be making a big difference in the lives of these women.
Mama Amos said: " I am a widow and had to rely to my sons to support me. I am no longer a burden, but instead I can contribute to the family. With the money I have earned through RedTribe, I have bought goats and paid school fees for my grandchildren. My life is better now.'
It is a joy to be part of RedTribe with these amazing Maasai women!
