This is a little out of order, but the most exciting thing shaking my brain tonight so I want to share it with you.
On my trip to Nairobi this week, one day was spent driving almost 5 hours into the bush country, around the Rift Vally in Kenya, over a one-lane road on a lake, and up a mountain to what to me was paradise.
Katy and Philip Leakey live on top of a mountain in well-appointed tents, their amenities powered by the sun. Gracious and wise, they practice what they preach: conservaton. Water is carried daily from a stream and purified. Their environment shapes their routines.
What they are doing in this setting, however, is even more beautiful than the wildflowers dotting the slope outside the dining tent or the dozens of wildly varying butterfly species inhabiting the range.
Using recycled materials from the local area, such as dry grass even too tough for animals to eat and fallen wood, they develop beautiful jewelry, serving pieces and other elegant items and train workers from the local Maasai tribe (this is a tribe National Geographic loves for their bright clothing and extravagant beaded neck collars and enormously stretched and decorated earlobes) to produce the items from start to finish.
Just to make sure you got that: they take trash and make treasure out of it, giving credit to local tribesmen and women and providing for them a way to pay for medical, education and living expenses.
The various projects employ hundreds of Maasai men and women, and are sustainable to the point that the Maasai could carry the projects on alone if they had to. But the Leakeys are brilliant creators of fine items and also of systems that make each part of business work, and have gained a sincere mutual appreciation from the local tribes. They are passionate about helping the environment and helping the Maasai thrive after devastating drought several years ago that wiped out much of the Maasai economic cycle when great numbers of cattle died or had to be moved hundreds of miles away. All of their products are environmentally friendly and fairly traded.
Anyway, don't take my word for it, look at their website and buy some of their beautiful items at http://www.leakeycollection.com/. Their Zulubead necklace strands are also available at http://www.karamagifts.com/ along with many other fair-trade items from Eastern Africa.
On my trip to Nairobi this week, one day was spent driving almost 5 hours into the bush country, around the Rift Vally in Kenya, over a one-lane road on a lake, and up a mountain to what to me was paradise.
Katy and Philip Leakey live on top of a mountain in well-appointed tents, their amenities powered by the sun. Gracious and wise, they practice what they preach: conservaton. Water is carried daily from a stream and purified. Their environment shapes their routines.
What they are doing in this setting, however, is even more beautiful than the wildflowers dotting the slope outside the dining tent or the dozens of wildly varying butterfly species inhabiting the range.
Using recycled materials from the local area, such as dry grass even too tough for animals to eat and fallen wood, they develop beautiful jewelry, serving pieces and other elegant items and train workers from the local Maasai tribe (this is a tribe National Geographic loves for their bright clothing and extravagant beaded neck collars and enormously stretched and decorated earlobes) to produce the items from start to finish.
Just to make sure you got that: they take trash and make treasure out of it, giving credit to local tribesmen and women and providing for them a way to pay for medical, education and living expenses.
The various projects employ hundreds of Maasai men and women, and are sustainable to the point that the Maasai could carry the projects on alone if they had to. But the Leakeys are brilliant creators of fine items and also of systems that make each part of business work, and have gained a sincere mutual appreciation from the local tribes. They are passionate about helping the environment and helping the Maasai thrive after devastating drought several years ago that wiped out much of the Maasai economic cycle when great numbers of cattle died or had to be moved hundreds of miles away. All of their products are environmentally friendly and fairly traded.
Anyway, don't take my word for it, look at their website and buy some of their beautiful items at http://www.leakeycollection.com/. Their Zulubead necklace strands are also available at http://www.karamagifts.com/ along with many other fair-trade items from Eastern Africa.
Oh, brings me back to the Great Rift Valley we had the great pleasure of driving through in Ethiopia...I miss it so much. I will check out the leakey collection.
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