By Laissa Malih, Coordinator/Filmmaker of Massai Cultural Heritage

The Maasai people, known for their rich cultural tapestry and deep-rooted traditions, face a significant challenge: the erosion of their heritage. To counter this, the Maasai Cultural Heritage (MCH) Foundation initiated the "Wisdom of the Maasai" project, known as "Engeno Le Maa" in the local dialect. Funded by Cultural Survival under the Community Media Fund, the initiative aimed to document and preserve the essence of Maasai culture through film and photography.

By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)

In the southern Rift Valley of Kenya, beyond the steaming geothermal fields, fenced-off national parks, and margins of Lake Naivasha (Enaiposha), lies Narasha, a semi-arid landscape home to the Maasai people for generations. Today, this land is a battleground where Indigenous survival, spiritual identity, and environmental justice are being relentlessly contested.

By Peter Kitelo, Executive Director Chepkitale Indigenous People Development Project (CIPDP)

By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)

If cities had ghosts, Nairobi would be haunted by the whispers of those it displaced. Beneath its glass towers and frantic highways lies a past rarely acknowledged: a history of forced removals, treaties signed under duress, and land slipping through Maasai hands like water.

By Georges Dougnon (Dogon, CS Staff)

By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)

When Mona Omar (Somali/Maasai) was a child, the land still spoke. Elders could predict the rains by watching the sky, birds, and the flowering of certain trees. They knew when to move to better pastures, which rivers would swell, and how to prepare for the dry season. The land was alive until one day, it wasn’t.

By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)

If you ever find yourself in a remote Samburu village at night, you might stumble upon a scene that feels straight out of a centuries-old tradition women huddled around a bonfire, their voices rising and falling in conversation as the fire flickers against their beadwork and shukas.

By Xiting Tong (CS Intern)

Under the sprawling branches of ancient trees by Lake Bogoria, Elders and young people sat together. The Elders, whose faces bore the gentle lines of time, shared stories with the young generation. Their voices, though quiet, carried the weight of many years of Indigenous wisdom and experience. “I have come to learn that there are many Elders who have a lot of stories to tell, and we have to reach them through this project,” says Rodgers Kibet (Endorois), a youth from Mochongoi.