Background 

Orkonerei Mass Media (ORMAME) is a company limited by share with a shares capital registered under the Companies Act NO 11 of 2004 of the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania, issue under section 133 of the income tax. The area of operation for the social ventures lies in the heart of the vast plains in Northern Tanzania, covering the Arusha and Manyara regions, famous for its world known national parks, and home to the Maasai, a semi nomadic tribe, sharing the same traditions and lifestyle.

Maasai are pastoralists and cattle are central to Maasai culture. Households depend upon their livestock for milk, blood and meat, the most important ingredients in any Maasai meal. Cattle also manifest the Maasai’s cultural tradition because they are used in virtually all ceremonies, such as judicial proceedings, celebratory ceremonies, marriages, and punishment. As the Maasai live in semi arid environment, communities migrate with their cattle according to the availability of water and grazing land. Livestock may have to move to very far distances, sometimes over thirty kilometres from the ‘permanent’ home. This may mean permanent settlement in a new area, in order to provide adequate pasture for the livestock.

Maasai society is structured in an age-oriented system, where each man passes through three main life stages: boyhood, warrior-hood and elder-hood. Stage transitions are marked by individual ceremonies involving various activities that are enjoyed by the entire community. Family life among the Maasai is very patriarchal. The man is the master in the home and in all family matters. Men are allowed to marry more than one wife. The more economically sound a man (family) is, the more likely such a man will marry a second or even third wife. As in many other African cultures, extended family relationships are much respected. These include cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and even in-laws. The family clan remains a strong entity and family disputes are resolved by a panel made up of clan members, and all events, be they happy or sad are shared by the whole clan.

Traditionally in Maasai culture, men are the heads of the households and any decision on matters to do with livestock and family asset rests with him, as well as participating in decision making at the larger community level. At marriage, the custom of giving dowry is also still much respected. The practice is that the aspiring groom acquires his bride by giving cows, goats, local brew, and other gifts to his father-in-law. Dissolution of marriage after such an “exchange” is extremely difficult as “once cattle have been received by the girl’s family all efforts are to keep these cattle within the family – at all costs”. In the same vein, the practice of arranged marriages is still prevalent, although it is gradually disappearing in some places, especially in the trading centres and towns where younger people now tend to marry for love. 

A pertinent issue particularly to women in Maasai land is that of “female circumcision,” also referred to as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This refers to the removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia in a “traditional rite carried for maturing girls at their puberty stage”. The main perpetrators of this practice are elderly women and men in the communities. FGM is therefore mainly practiced in the name of tradition and culture, as an initiation rite, the practice being one of the rituals that defines who is in the culture. The practice, which is generally done without anesthetic, is reported to have lifelong health consequences including chronic infection. It may also lead to severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse, or childbirth. For many young girls, FGM is also a psychologically traumatising experience. Although there are no official numbers, anecdotal information reveals that some girls actually die from the ritual, usually as a result of bleeding or infection.

The Maasai face serious challenges to their way of life due to outside pressures. They have lost over 20,000 km2 of their best watered grazing land to national parks and commercial farm land, exacerbating the difficulties during the recent drought in 2006, the worst in the region for over 20 ears. Official figures show total cattle mortality within Simanjiro district between January and February 2006 of approximately 21,000 animals. The high livestock mortality has meant that many families are unable to afford school fees and have become totally reliant on the community to survive. With the onset of the rains, diseases such as anthrax and East Coast fever have emerged and are causing further livestock deaths, reducing the ability of the families to recover.

Because of their traditional way of living the government and other institutions perceive them as primitive and treat them as mostly ignorant obstacles to development progress. For this reason, the Maasai are neither included in development plans, nor consulted in issues directly concerning their lives. They have been left behind during colonial times to now in terms of provision of social services like education, health, water, livestock services as well as marketing for their livestock. Land rights have been taken away to pave way for the establishment of national parks, Game reserves, hunting blocks and mining activities as well as establishment of large-scale farming for wheat, barley and flowers.

The Maasai are now facing an alarming loss of their land, and youth and women are ending up in big cities and towns seeking jobs of low status and quality because of lack of required education and information as well as ending up knowledge of herbs selling traditional and other traditional medicinal plants at very low prices.

Business profile of ORMAME 

        Mission 

The main reason for existence of ORMAME is to “facilitate social and economic  change through access to information and education for pastoralists’ communities in a sustainable way”

Geographically isolated communities with particularly poor infrastructure are continuously in need of information and education to keep up to pace with development changes.   With access to information and education rural communities have the possibility of engaging in relevant development processes and reduce the development exclusion likely to emerge because of isolation from main economic hubs. 

        Vision 

Our vision “well informed and knowledgeable pastoral community”.