#maasai — Public Fediverse posts

Meet the #IndigenousWomen restoring #Kenya’ s #MauForest — and reshaping gender roles

Juliet Akoth Ojwang
11 Aug 2026

Exceprt: "Restoring forests, rebuilding livelihoods

For Nancy Letina, chairperson of Namaiyana Women’s Group within the Paran network, joining the collective in 2021 transformed not only how she viewed conservation but also her family’s economic future.

" 'Previously, as #Maasai women, we depended on our husbands for everything, even household items like salt,' Letina said. But in 2019, that changed after her husband died, leaving her as the breadwinner with the responsibility to provide for her four children.

"The first two years after losing her husband were difficult. Together with a handful of women facing similar hardships from Olomaiayana-Iltirben village in Melelo ward, Letina formed a self-help group that supported members during times of need. Their fortunes began to change when the group joined Paran and received training in #sustainable livelihood activities.

" 'We gained knowledge that showed us that every woman can also fend for herself. Today, women have their own income. We can pay school fee arrears when our children are sent home and respond to emergencies without waiting for assistance.'

"Her group currently manages a 0.2-hectare (half-acre) #TreeNursery where they grow indigenous species such as the African olive (Olea europaea subsp. africana), valued in forest restoration for supporting #biodiversity and also widely used in traditional medicine, which they periodically supply to Paran. Letina’s group has sold 10,600 indigenous tree seedlings to the organization since joining. One seedling goes for 20 shillings ($0.15). The proceeds support both members and group activities."

Learn more:
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/

#SolarPunkSunday #ProtectTheForest #ForestRestoration #NativeTrees #TreePlanting #TraditionalMedicine #CulturalPreservation #Africa #EastAfrica #BuildingCommunity #Resiliency

[Short film] #Enchukunoto (The Return)

Laissa Malih with John Ole Tingoi (#Maasai)

"As the first female Maasai filmmaker, Laissa Malih initially set out to document the land-based practices of her forefathers and ways in which climate change is reshaping Maasai communities. In returning to the IL-Laikipiak Maasai village that her parents left when she was a child, Malih experiences an epiphany: her own life is a reflection of the myriad challenges between Maasai youth and elders, women and men, ancestral ways of passing down essential knowledge and modern methods of education.

"In ENCHUKUNOTO (The Return), Malih’s singular perspective also challenges ways in which the Maasai peoples have long been seen and documented by tourists and other outsiders. 'Many tourists come to our Maa lands to film the lions, the gazelles,' she observes. 'The camera takes and takes. I wonder what my camera can give my people in return?'

"Interweaving verite with Malih’s insights, Malih offers a heretofore unseen perspective as an insider and an outsider, a woman among men, a filmmaker carrying on sacred Maasai traditions of storytelling in an era defined by uncertainty."

https://www.reciprocity.org/films/enchukunoto

#SolarPunkSunday #Nature #ProtectNature #CulturalPreservation #IndigenousAfricans #MassaiPeople #WomenDirectedFilms #DCEFF #IndigenousStorytellers
#IndigenousFilms #LandDefenders #ReciprocityProject #Reciprocity #IndigenousFilmMakers #IndigenousWisdom #IndigenousKnowledge #Reciprocity #FilmVerite

Thank to The University of Sheffield my film 'Flow' about adults disclosing childhood sexual abuse #CSA now has subtitles in many languages: https://player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/flow. Languages available are: #Albanian, #Chinese (simplified & traditional), #French, #Filipino/#Tagalog, #Greek, #Gujarati, #Hindi, #Italian, #Japanese, #Maasai, #Malay, #Polish,#Portuguese, #Romanian, #Russian, #spanish #Swahili, #Tamil, #Urdu, #Uzbek. If you use the film in your work please contact me by DM or email.