In many Maasai communities in Kenya, beadwork is more than decoration, it is a skill, a tradition, and for some women, a vital source of income.
This is the story of how one remarkable Maasai widow, Koko, and a handful of beads sparked a journey that would grow into a jewellery business supporting women and their families and community.
I heard her coming from a mile away.
Nuts and bolts hung from a thick wire bent around each of her strong yet stick-thin ankles. With every step they knocked against each other creating a rhythmic percussive musical sound. Combined with the cascade of beads draped around her neck—each threaded with tiny metal discs that chimed like miniature cymbals or silver bells—and her mesmerising singing, the whole effect became a small, travelling orchestra.
With Her slow, considered steps – gradually growing in volume she approached the front door.
It creaked loudly as she opened it and I wandered over to greet this tiny but extraordinary woman who I would later come to know as Koko. Her face was full of a thousand tiny wrinkles deeply embedded into her face which told a million stories. but mostly spoke of a life well lived, communicated through laughter lines most prominent around her warm brown deep-set laughing eyes. She had huge leather oval earrings folded over and hung through her long-stretched lobes. Above those, were carefully crafted wire sculpture like beaded earrings suspended from holes further up her ears. They were so heavy that her ears bent forward under their weight. Around her neck were layer upon layer of collars. Huge, beaded leather disks hung from long strands of beads around her neck – symbolizing that her son had been a warrior. The beads were mostly white in colour -with reds and blues and yellows doted throughout -in perfect patterns. As she smiled broadly her mouth revealed a missing tooth and with unashamed dignity, she spat on the ground and thought nothing of it. She wore long patterned red robes and looked like a very old queen. And she was!!! She was known in the surrounding villages and beyond, as “enkinki” – or queen in ki-Maasai. She was seen as a Holy lady, set apart from the others. When there was no rain. It was Koko who was called on. She would be brought to the village and rain would follow.
I offered her my pasty hand to shake which she held between both of her leathery wrinkled hands and looked at me from head to toe. I wonder what she saw.
Then she smiled again and spoke in ki-Maasai. I hadn’t been living in Maasai land for long so could only muster a few words of greeting -but that was it.
Pelua our trusted Maasai friend came to the rescue and translated for me.
She came to show me her beadwork in the hope of selling some to me. She was carrying it in a large bag made from the woven sacks used for sugar and maize. And it was full of the most exquisite beadwork. Some were old – created as much as 50 years ago –
It was mainly collars and bracelets that filled her sack – a plethora of vibrant shapes and colours. It took my breath away when she slowly took them out to show me one by one.
My mind was whirring with ideas and potential. Here was an entrepreneurial lady who was highly skilled at her craft. What if we collaborated?
But first things first! A cup of hot sweet smoky chai filled to the brim of a white and royal blue enamel mug was the order of the day. It was so hot that we needed a couple of extra cups to pour back and forth to allow the air to cool it – they call this “ojoule ojoule”. We sat together outside on the grass in the warm sunshine, and we talked and laughed – she showed me how she made her extraordinary wirework beaded jewellery and we drank our chai.
Little did I know that this would be the beginning of a wonderful relationship and the start of a project which would turn into a business selling jewellery all round the world.
We put our heads together and she let me throw in some ideas for a pair of earrings. I showed her the earrings I was wearing, and I explained that we mostly wear slightly smaller lighter ones. We messed around with colours and shapes.
Before long, we had designed a pair of earrings together!
I had a hand full of beads and some wire I’d been experimenting with out of curiosity, so I gave them to her and asked if she would make me a pair of these earrings. She took them home and came back a few days later.
It is customary for the older generation to drink a homemade aloe and honey beer which is deliciously sweet but notoriously strong! Koko joyfully adhered to the culture and after several of these cups of beer had created the earrings we designed together. She came to show me!
We’d created an arc shape with different sized beads. Each bead threaded in rows through the wire and held in place by using a thin piece of plastic cut from an old water container which could no longer hold water. She’d made tiny holes in the plastic to post the wire through and there to my amazement was the finished product!
They were sooo wonky! was it the same person who made them? 2 days ago, she’d made a perfect semi-circle of beads surrounding a larger central bead. These were far from that. They were a skewwhiff fan shape!
We laughed and then I took another look and thought to myself- What if we neatened them up a bit but kept that new shape? The shape inspired through her love of pombe! The local brew!
We tweaked it and recreated it and came up with a design that, to my ongoing surprise, became a best seller and would continue to sell -with a few updates for the next 15 years!!!
Our relationship grew and Koko offered to be my mother while I was living there. She would try and find younger wives for Hennie, my husband, who thankfully declined. She would be the backbone to our enterprise and a legend I will never forget!
Today, the beadwork created by Maasai women continues to provide income and opportunity for their families. What began with Koko and a handful of beads has grown into a collection of handmade jewellery, each piece carrying a story of skill, resilience and collaboration.
By choosing RedTribe’s handmade beadwork, you are directly supporting the women who keep this tradition alive and contributing to our other projects which help transform a community.
