Meet Kyalo Muangi, our master craftsman who does all our leather work and finishing, as well as the most difficult bead work. Born in the Kamba village of Myanyani, in Machakos district, Kyalo took after his grandfather who used to make hide belts and water carriers for women to carry water to their homes. As a child, Kyalo was always fascinated by beads, but also scared of them as they were only used by witch doctors in his tribe. Forced to leave school early, Kyalo went to work in the town of Machakos at 14 years old, where he quickly learned that beads could also be used for decoration and jewellery.

  He is now also the mwalimu, or teacher, of our organisation, giving free training to anyone who wants.

MAMA LINGU:

  Mama Lingu is pure Maasai - her family part of the Oljekiado Maasai clan - and she was born in the tiny manyatta of Kitirua, not far from Amboselli National Park in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. She had a traditional upbringing where bead work was a daily activity amongst the women. Beadwork is central to Maasai culture, with both men and women adorning themselves from head to toe in many kinds of bead jewellery. While Maasai men love wearing bead jewellery they would not dream of making it, considering cattle herding and warrior training the only suitable activities for a real Maasai man.

   Mama Lingu married Mosheke at quite an early age. She is not sure, but probably around 16 years old, and they have two children together and are awaiting a third now. Her first love is her manyatta and she would like to live there all the time, but life is very tough for the Maasai who have lost all their lands and benefit very little from the tourist trade. So Mosheke brought Mama Lingu to Mombasa to earn money, leaving his second wife at the manyatta to tend the cattle. He works on and off as a security guard but their life has continued to be quite tough. Since Mama Lingu joined our group, however, the steady income she earns has meant that she can put their two boys in school, which they are very happy about. However, they make sure they take their boys back to the manyatta during all the school holidays so that they can learn to be ‘real’ Maasai!

FAITH:

  Faith is 19 years old and from the Akamba village of Mbitini, although at age 4 she was brought by her mother to live in Mombasa. She is the oldest of 7 children and has no father, so she has had to help her mother be a breadwinner since an early age. This meant that she only went to school for the first 6 years. Until joining us she had tried many ways of earning enough to survive, mostly by running a roadside shack with her mother that sells basic food to passers-by and casual labourers. She came to us knowing some bead work which she says she learned from friends, and she is gradually developing into a proficient beader thanks to the tuition by Kyalo.

JUSTICE MUSYOKA:

  Justice is also an Akamba who has spent most of his life doing beadwork, but until now for the tourist industry. This is a very sporadic means to earning a living, and it has meant that he, like thousands of other Kenyans, has had to leave his wife and children in their village while he travels hundreds of miles, renting a simple room somewhere, just to earn enough money for all of them to survive. When Justice came to us he had never had a steady income, but he has now taken money back to his family on a visit and has been able to put his children in school. His next hope is that he can earn enough to bring them to live with him in Mombasa.

HARRIET:

 Harriet is from the coastal Rabai tribe, which is one of the smallest of the 9 Tribes of the Mijikenda, the 9 indigenous coastal tribes. She has two children and her husband is a casual labourer who is often unemployed. Harriet spent most of her life as a housemaid, but never earned enough money to get ahead in life. Moreover, she often had to leave her young children at home alone when she went to work. When Harriet came to us, she knew nothing about beadwork, but within 3 weeks she could produce one pattern to a good enough standard to be paid for it. She has now been with us for about 6 weeks and is a dependable producer of many of our patterns. Best of all she can now work at home and watch her children at the same time.