Growing up in suburban Illinois, Robin Wiszowaty leads a typical middle-class American life. Hers is a world of gleaming shopping malls, congested freeways, and neighborhood gossip. But from an early age, she has longed to break free of this existence and discover something deeper. What it is, she doesn't quite know. Yet she knows in her heart there simply has to be more. Through a fortunate twist of fate, Robin seizes an opportunity to travel to rural Kenya and join an impoverished Maasai community. Suddenly her days are spent hauling water, evading giraffes, and living in a tiny hut made of cow dung with her adoptive family. She is forced to face issues she's never considered: extreme poverty, drought, female circumcision, corruption — and discovers love in the most unexpected places. In the open wilds of the dusty savannah, this Maasai life is one she could never have imagined.

In My Maasai Life, growing readers follow a young Robin Wiszowaty as she travels to Kenya for the first time. Living with the Maasai people, Robin explores the land with her new family as they get water, find wood, and sing songs. It is all a part of the adventure with the Maasai.My Maasai Life: A Child's Adventure in Africa is a perfect introduction for children to the social issues in Africa. With easy-to-pronounce Swahili words, they can join Robin as she learns about the Maasai, fetching water and looking out for wild animals. Sales of this book support Free The Children, the world's largest network of children helping children through education.

In 1999, Juliet Cutler leaves the United States to teach at the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa. Captivated by the stories of young Maasai women determined to get an education in the midst of a culture caught between the past and the future, she seeks to empower and support her students as they struggle to define their own fates. Cutler soon learns that behind their shy smiles and timid facades, her Maasai students are much stronger than they appear. For them, adolescence requires navigating a risky world of forced marriages, rape, and genital cutting, all in the midst of a culture grappling with globalization. In the face of these challenges, these young women believe education offers hope, and so, against all odds, they set off alone―traveling hundreds of miles and even forsaking their families―simply to go to school. Twenty years of involvement with this school and its students reveal to Cutler the important impacts of education across time, as well as the challenges inherent in tackling issues of human rights and extreme poverty across vastly different cultures. Working alongside local educators, Cutler emerges transformed by the community she finds in Tanzania and by witnessing the life-changing impact of education on her students. Proceeds from the sale of this book support education for at-risk Maasai girls.

A unique look into one of the most fascinating tribes in Africa, through Western eyes. Eti Dayan, researcher and tour guide, used to visit a Maasai village during her trips to Kenya. When Dayan is invited to attend a traditional wedding at the village, she undergoes a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A few months later, she receives a small note informing her that her Maasai hostess, No'oltwati, has fallen gravely ill. Dayan decides to fly back to Kenya, and use creative ways to save No'oltwati's life. During her stay in the village, she falls in love with the members of the tribe. She is given a Maasai name, Nayolang, One of Us, and is invited to build her home in the village. One of Them tells the story of the amazing life of Eti Dayan which became and unexpectedly interlaced with those of the Maasai people in Kenya. Through Dayan's Western perspective, the reader is allowed a rare peek into the culture of one of the world's most unique ethnic groups. In a tone lush with honesty and grace, with impressive knowledge and great charm, Dayan relates wonderful stories we have not yet read about the Maasai daily life, special ceremonies and cultural clashes, while debating questions of belonging, sustenance, parenthood, ownership, sexuality, male and female circumcision, politics, heritage, hunting and more.

How two young Maasai tribesmen became warriors, scholars, and leaders in their community and to the world. They are living testament to a vanishing way of life on the African savannah. Wilson and Jackson are two brave warriors of the Maasai, an intensely proud culture built on countless generations steeped in the mystique of tradition, legend and prophecy. They represent the final generation to literally fight for their way of life, coming of age by proving their bravery in the slaying of a lion. They are the last of the great warriors. Yet, as the first generation to fully embrace the modern ways and teachings of Western civilization, the two warriors have adapted — at times seamlessly, at times with unimaginable difficulty -- in order to help their people. They strive to preserve a disappearing culture, protecting the sanctity of their elders while paving the way for future generations. At this watershed moment in their history, the warriors carry the weight of their forbearers while embracing contemporary culture and technology. While their struggle to achieve this balance unfolds exquisitely in this story, their discoveries resonate well beyond the Maasai Mara.

Only the combination of cultural curiosity, passion, fearlessness and a set of Jewish parents breathing fire down her neck could lead a sane human being to buy a one-way ticket to Nairobi and face probable death in an effort to become the world’s first female Maasai warrior. Warrior Princess is the funny and inspirational memoir of Mindy Budgor, a young entrepreneur tired of having a job to have a job, who decides to make changes in her life. While waiting for her Business School applications to go through, she decides to volunteer in Africa, building schools and hospitals in the Maasai Mara. While living and working with the Maasai, Mindy talks to the chief and asks him why there are no women warriors. The chief responds simply and derisively: because women are not strong enough or brave enough. Mindy immediately realizes her calling and thus begins her amazing adventure to become the first female Maasai warrior. As a result of this training and advocacy, the Maasai in Loita, Kenya are leading the charge to change tribal law to allow women to become Maasai warriors. Mindy as a tribe member is ready to return to stand with her fellow warriors against whatever opposition they might face – be it lions, or elephants, or Western influence.

Yosemite Maasai is the biography of one man's remarkable journey to find his true self. This story of luck, love, and resilience will inspire anyone who is struggling to make sense of the path their own life is taking.As the first-born son of the village chief, Olotumi Laizer knew the path his life would take. He would be raised separately from his sisters, be circumcised as a teenager, spend his warrior years protecting cattle with his brothers, marry multiple wives, and conceive dozens of children. But then, at age ten, a chance event exposed him to the outside world. Although Laizer continued to participate in traditional Maasai rites of passage including ceremonial circumcision and warriorhood, he began questioning the central tenets of his culture. Eventually, Laizer's questions culminated in a showdown with his father, who cursed him with death. Undaunted, Laizer continued down a path of change and growth, which took him from Tanzania to Yosemite National Park and back again.