VirtuArte.com

If you follow VirtuArte on Twitter (http://twitter.com/virtuarte) you would know that earlier this month I was in Santa Fe to attend the International Folk Art Market. While there I had the opportunity to meet Rebecca Lolosoli, a Kenyan artisan participating in the Folk Art Market. After talking to her for a while I found out she is a very remarkable woman.

Rebecca is the matriarch of Umoja Village, an all women's community located in the Samburu District of Kenya that was started in 1991. Umoja Village began with a group of 16 raped women, denounced and outcast by their families, on a patch of sun-dried, neglected land granted to them by the Kenyan government. Today it is a unique place, home to a group of 50 flourishing, happy women and girls, orphans and widows. Each of these women had been facing social and economic difficulties and was abandoned by their families, or was fleeing domestic violence, forced marriage, or female genial mutilation. Rebecca saw the need to gather these women together and work collectively to find strategies for survival, and to begin to change the way families and communities in Samburu treat women.

With the help of other women, Rebecca provides a safe haven for the women in her community. Despite repeated threats and attacks from men of neighboring villages, Rebecca continues to work for women's rights. Her goal is to curb violence against women and the negative cultural practices that are harmful to women's health, safety and well-being. The Umoja Village Community Center also provides a welcome gathering place for women throughout the region who are encouraged to visit. Rebecca and the other women of Umoja Village are more than willing to help women from the surrounding communities to improve their economic situation and well-being.

The Samburu women of Umoja create beautiful, traditional beadwork that they sell to tourists visitng the nearby Samburu National Reserve. To supplement this income the women have, with the help of Vital Voices, begun to create more contemporary pieces of beadwork and export to the United States. However, this year has been difficult for them. Due to the political unrest in Kenya and the global economic crises there are not as many tourists visiting the National Reserve, which has had a significant impact on their ability to generate an income.

This is the first year Umoja Uaso Women's Group, represented by Rebecca, was selected to participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. It was the first time she had been in Santa Fe and Rebecca had a wonderful time. She siad the weather was great; Santa Fe reminded her of home, but best of all she did "good selling" at the Folk Art Market. Rebecca arrived in Santa Fe with suitcases full of beadwork and only had a few pieces left at the end of the two days. The sales from the Folk Art Market will help replace some of the income no longer being generated from sales to the tourists. Some of this money will be reinvested back into the community.

Rebecca returned to Kenya this past weekend. Before going to Umoja, she was going to stop in Nairobi to shop for beads to take home with her.