A Buying Trip to Tanzania

Behind the Scenes with Erica from East of Africa

Maasai Beading Partner Sarah & her daughter Gloria

During my recent visit in East Africa, I travelled with our Tanzanian team leader, Esther, to the Kilimanjaro region in Northern Tanzania, to the village of our long-term Maasai beading partner, Sarah.

Our partnerships with artisans in East Africa are long-term, and we work to be regular trade partners to invest in women in business. We focus our East African work on supporting talented artisans with small businesses to thrive and develop through ethical and direct trade in our global Marketplace.

We support by skill-sharing and training, design ideas, Microfinance for resources and equipment, and with custom orders. We have seen first-hand that investment in women is an investment in children and families, and we know our trade is significantly beneficial and empowering.

The benefits of travelling to our artisans’ family homes is to connect with how women live and work, to meet their children, and to connect with the master beader grandmothers, who also sell to us.

Women from the small village came to show us their beaded handcrafts, and we were delighted to directly purchase pieces from every woman.

The beauty of the traditional Maasai beading techniques is the huge diversity in the finished products; each piece is entirely unique, and we now have an abundance of one-of-a-kind beaded earrings, long beaded necklaces, and a stunning collection of Maasai Christmas decorations instore in our Newport Marketplace.

Visit us at 330 Melbourne Road, Newport to hear the origin stories of the Maasai bead work, and take home a truly unique beaded treasure from a Maasai woman in the Tanzanian Kilimanjaro region.