is SHARING VIA: Son of Baldwin ~Unlike most African tribes, the Maasai, whose population Layton estimates at about 3 million, have held on to their traditions, living in small mud-and-stick homesteads clustered around oval-shaped pens for their cows and goats. The tribe is an important element of the East African tourism industry. Their recognizable red attire makes them as much an attraction as the lions, giraffes, and rhinoceroses. And yet, as a people, they have benefited little from the visitors. They see their images on billboards and their beadwork in gift shops, but they are underrepresented in the industry’s craft markets and other trades. They see tourists take their pictures and imagine them sold for riches abroad. Tribal elder Isaac ole Tialolo, 52, grew up near the border of Kenya and Tanzania. Long a campaigner for Maasai rights, most recently for water access for their cattle, he once broke the camera of a tourist who took pictures of him without permission. On a visit to Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, he got into an argument with a Chinese restaurant owner who’d used statues of Maasai men and women to indicate the toilets. I was really angry, he says. I did not even eat. When a friend told him of Layton’s interest, he was quick to get in touch. We knew there were a lot of misuses of our culture, ole Tialolo says. We didn’t know what to do about it. #EverybodyWantsToBeBlack #ButNobodyWantsToBeBlack youtu.be/oiOYfO8H1X8
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 17:41:18 +0000
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