Kasigau is home to East and West Tsavo - two of Kenya’s most popular nature reserves with beautiful baobab trees, countless cows and 10 villages dotted around the huge flat-topped Mt Kasigau. This arid rural area is home to our talented weavers. We work with a number of different groups which vary in size and weaving styles. Kissimeni’s baskets for example have bright geometric patterns, their weaving is tight and their shapes wide and round. Where as Bungule’s baskets are a thicker weave and are often bold, bright stripes.
Most of the weavers are women and are the main breadwinners of their families. Their primary source of income is through subsistence farming but when the rains are too late or don’t come at all the crops fail and for these families and communities this can be devastating. In these desperate times many people turn to poaching or charcoal burning as a quick source of income. Creating alternative revenue streams such as the basket weaving helps conservation by decreasing the necessity for these harmful practices. As well as also encouraging the craft of weaving to be handed down from generation to generation.
