An Indigenous women's success story from Africa!

I met Mrs. Naomi Lanoi Leleto of the 100,000 person Maasai Tribal Nation of Kenya - at the Tribal Link
Project Access Global capacity Building for Indigenous Peoples Training Course, held in May 2012 in New
York City; USA.

The first observation that I noted about Naomi was the way she speaks the English language, she delivers her words with a certain elegance that caresses the ears of any listener; much like a soothing love song.
Coming as I do - from a mono-lingual region of the Eastern Caribbean that allegedly speaks 'English', and
having been raised by parents who neither encouraged nor permitted their children to 'murder the English
language' (as they always admonished us); it was very pleasing for me to listen to Naomi. I have always
admired how Indigenous Africans who speak English as a secondary or even tertiary language, can STILL
converse in it with an audible clarity and perfection of pronunciation that even surpasses the 'language skills'
of most natural born English speakers in the rest of the world!

Naomi is a member of the Natodua Jua Kali Women's Association in Narok county in southern Kenya. The
association was formed with a goal of alleviating poverty through entrepreneurship, but it is also involved
with HIV/AIDS awareness, environmental issues, campaigning against female genital mutilation; and many
other important issues. Naomi is a great asset to the association, helping members to identify various
entrepreneurial opportunities - whilst finalizing her Masters Degree in Business Administration; her thesis
work is focused on entrepreneurship among indigenous women in Narok County.

Currently, each member of the association plants 1-10 acres of corn, beans or wheat; sometimes a
combination of all three; these are grown for sale during the annual harvest season. Each member also has 2-
20 cows, 10-50 goats or sheep, and 5-20 chickens...all of which are sold occasionally to cover household
expenses including school fees and other family needs. The women's association also has a nursery with
67,000 plants, these are for domestic sale during the March-April rainy season.
The membership also engages in other small business activities including tailoring (which was made
possible by the association's purchase of two sewing machines), a hairdressing shop, a beadwork business,
AND.... this very praiseworthy and noble entity is ALSO fostering four orphaned children - one of whom is
HIV positive; providing them with a chance to lead normal lives despite their circumstances.
Naomi ended our conversation by reminding me that the Tribal Link Foundation's grant in September 2010
to the association...was integral to the transition that allowed the Natodua Jua Kali Women's Association to
progress from being a great idea - to becoming a great reality in the community. Naomi was also personally
grateful to the founder of Tribal Link - Mrs. Pamela Kraft, for all her personal efforts and interventions like a
proverbial 'Fairy Godmother' - who comes to the aid of so many indigenous men and women all over the
world.

As for me personally, I think what these noble indigenous African sisters have done in Narok County Kenya
- CAN and SHOULD be replicated in every indigenous community worldwide, wherever such a social void
that is in need of being filled exists.
This brief article is not meant to be a 'feel good' piece, which when once read - recedes into irrelevance as
we resume our daily lives.
There are many ways for us to help our fellow man if we choose to walk down the right path in this life, we
can help these women do even more good in their community....and we can help Tribal Link to create other
success stories all over God's green Earth.