An investigation into how unregulated sand extraction is draining water sources and reshaping pastoral life in Kenya’s drylands.
By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Fellow)
At sunrise along the Olkeriai River in Mashuuru, Kajiado County, the riverbed no longer looks like a waterway. Instead, it looks like an open quarry: scarred, excavated, and restless.
By Omar Challah, Executive Director, Jamii Action Centre (JAC)
Jamii Action Centre has launched JAC FM, a community-owned radio station in Kwale County, Kenya. With this new station, we’re advancing efforts towards providing a platform for the Mijikenda People, a group that has been historically underrepresented in mainstream media.
Mussa Juma Siwayombe, Executive Director
A media-based campaign spearheaded by the Media Aid for Indigenous and Pastoralists Community (MAIPAC) is making strides in raising awareness about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Tanzania's Longido District. The project, supported by Cultural Survival, is using radio programs, video documentaries, and social media to advocate for the abandonment of the practice and protect the well-being of young girls in Maasai communities.
By Titus N’getuny, Communication Officer, Endorois Indigenous Women Empowerment Network (EIWEN)
By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)
By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)
A landmark land victory in Kenya becomes a global lesson in evidence-based advocacy, intergenerational wisdom, and resistance with vision.
By Lucas Kasosi (Maasai, CS Intern)
“Our Elders hunted lions to protect our herds. Today, we are hunting for something else, plastic. It doesn’t roar, but it’s killing our way of life.”
— Ipato Kenta, Founder of Tembea Make An Impact
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.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
