Author: Ella

African inspiration

We come from Fire

We were sitting around the fire one evening, when my young Maasai friend asked me: Dada, do you know what is the meaning of fire for us the Maasai? Welcome inside to find out…

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African inspiration

Celebrating Indigenous women

Today is Indigenous Women’s day 2024. I take this opportunity to celebrate and show my gratitude to all the tribeswomen who teach me and inspire me since my first time being back with mama Africa in 1993!

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African inspiration

About a needle and a box

What does a needle have to do with an umbrella? Well it’s the box that comes between us and the answer to this question. I mean a mental box. And the thing is, it turns out it’s a Western-kind-of-thinking box. All will make sense I promise, just click and let’s begin the needle story…

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baraka's art - Detail from a hand made bag by Baraka.
Big little stories

Baraka’s art

Around East Africa, I’ve met many young people who make their living by creating for the souvenir industry, out of them, I occasionally meet artists. Baraka is just that, an artist in his soul.

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My Kweme earrings. On the left from the hard inner shell, and on the left from the outer inner shell.
Healing plants & trees

My Kweme earrings

A new and wonderful project started when one day I walked into the kitchen just as the chef finished cracking the unique Kilimanjaro oyster nuts for his famous sauce. I looked at the empty shells with their rich texture and immediately knew what I was going to create from them…

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Chagga tribe grandmother holding the nuts she harvested in her farm
Healing plants & trees

Oyster nuts – super food of the Kilimanjaro

Oyster nuts are a tasty and highly nutritious super food, and everything about them fascinates me. Kweme in Swahili, it’s definitely another one of Mother Earth’s wonders and a special gift to the mountain dwellers. The nuts, that grow inside a kind of a giant green gourd, have a unique connection to the heritage of the Chagga tribe among which I live…

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girl with rag ball
African inspiration

Childhood games

The village kids on the slopes of the Kilimanjaro, as many other African kids, are very creative with their games. Without excess of store-bought toys that are imposed on Western kids, nature is their play ground. Childhood games in the safe embrace of the community are a vital and integrated way of learning and maturing into healthy adult life. Hope you’ll get inspired by this…

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