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Mau Forest Destruction

The Maasai are known the world over as tall, proud, and handsome indigenous people who have maintained their culture and traditions for thousands of years. Occupying northern and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, the Maasai are unique amongst East Africa’s people—they continue to maintain their cultural, spiritual, and economic relationship with their ancestral lands. However, economic expansion and bad land tenure policies of the colonial and present governments of Kenya and Tanzania have undermined the well-being of the Maasai.

Open Letter to the Government and Maasai People

We the undersigned write this letter as members of the Maasai community aggrieved by the grabbing of the Mau forest for three important reasons:

To let all and sundry know that for legal and land rights purposes, the silence of the majority of our people does not constitute consent to appropriate the Mau forest or any of our lands (whether already appropriated or about to be), but rather, a lack of understanding of the complex process of land grabbing and land rights injustice in the context of unjust national laws.

Botswana Government Forces San to Move

In the latest move to force the indigenous San (Bushmen) of Botswana off their land, the Botswana government has cut off services—including water, mobile health clinics, packages for orphaned children and the aged, and the only means of outside communication—to ||Gana and |Gui tribes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

The Embodiment of Enkai:The Mau Forest and Maasai Spirituallity

In January 2001, the Kenyan government announced its plan to excise an additional 412,000 acres of the Mau Forest, which is currently home to the pastoralist Maasai. While a number of NGOs have protested this latest initiative, few have addressed the spiritual significance of the forest to those who know it most intimately.

Meitamei Olol-Dapash, founder of the Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition, explains, "The land is not just the foundation of our livelihood; it is also the foundation for our spirituality.

Ethnosphere Update:How the Internet Supports Partnerships

How can the Internet and, in particular, our Ethnosphere project, best serve indigenous interests?

The Ogiek Welfare Council

Ever since the British colonial period, the Ogiek, an indigenous group of hunter-gatherers in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, have fought to retain control of their ancestral homelands. During the five years since their first court case against the government (which is still pending), the Ogiek Welfare Council (OWC) has campaigned for the recognition of rights that have repeatedly been undermined by government allotment letters and forced removals from traditional settlements. Spokesperson Joseph Towett explained: "The OWC is committed to the protection of the Ogiek Constitution of Rights.

Education Department Update

Many schools today struggle to provide high quality global education within a set of frameworks and curriculum standards while under threat of budget cuts and standardized testing.

1300 and counting

From the moment I walked in the door for my interview, I knew Cultural Survival was the place for me. Having grown up all over Southeast Asia, interaction with and exploration of different cultures has been a way of life. I was eager to put my experiences to work and contribute to CS’s mission of promoting the vision, voices, and human rights of indigenous peoples.

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