Maasai are best known for their beautiful beadwork which plays an essential element in the ornamentation of the body. Beading patterns are determined by each age-set and identify grades. Young men, who often cover their bodies in ocher to enhance their appearance, may spend hours and days working on ornate hairstyles, which are ritually shaved as they pass into the next age-grade.

Maasai are the southernmost Nilotic speakers and are linguistically most directly related to the Turkana and Kalenjin who live near Lake Turkana in west central Kenya. According to Maasai oral history and the archaeological record, they also originated near Lake Turkana.

Maasai are pastoralist and have resisted the urgings of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights in many of the national parks of both countries and routinely ignore international boundaries as they move their great cattle herds across the open savanna with the changing of the seasons. This resistance has led to a romanticizing of the Maasai way of life that paints them as living at peace with nature.

Namayiana had its beginnings with two seperate groups. One started in 1985 and began helping young people who had an opportunity to receive for further education at home or abroad. This group was named Enkerai (child) for it was established because of their children. The other group named Nkanyuak (people who try) was established in 1986 began as a Church group assisting the local PCEA Church and its members. A significant point to remember is that both groups were initiated by "intasati" not by "isiankikin"; that is to say, by the mothers and older women. For the most part they could not read or write, but wished to use the skills and abilities they had to care for their children and the community around them.

Now, there are daughters, daughters-in-law, nieces and friends, all making the group a generous mixture of young and old. Those with formal education and those with the wisdom of life have grown as a group thanks to the many new things they have learned. It is a wonderful gift that has been given to those who began the groups themselves and is being passed on to the younger people.

They chose the name "Namayiana" as the registered business name for the bead work business. These women have worked hard to develop their group so that they
can make money to feed, educate and clothe their children. The group has an executive committee of 16 women and an advisory group of 10 men, both elders and younger men, who offer advice and total support since the establishment of the group. The younger men who have seen and benefited from the work of the group have also helped to make new connections and offer advice.

The Namayiana group is large, over 110 members, and it is not always easy to work with so many people. The project is meant to help as many as possible. To this end, the women listen to advice offered by different people and groups. By helping all members to work together, the group can continue. Struggle can make people strong and these women are willing to continue to work and even to struggle so that every member, from the weakest to the strongest person among them, can obtain something and feel good about the products they have made.