“Life has taught me that respect, caring and love must be shared, for it’s only through sharing, that friendships are born” ~Donna A. Favors

“Our journey at The Leakey Collection has been incredible. You have been a friend and a supporter of our mission, and we are so thankful and believe that “living a life of purpose” is there for all of us.” ~ Katy & Philip Leakey

International Friendship Day is a great way to renew your commitment to friendship.  Enter our Facebook sweepstakes by submitting in one word, the most important attribute of friendship and select 3 of your closest girlfriends to share it with. You will be entered into a random drawing for 3 sets of our ZuluSport™ Friendship Bracelets, now available in our natural colors.  Check your local area for a full selection of colors. And don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook so that you won’t miss any of our news or contests! 

On August 9th , we will randomly select 2 winners who will receive 3 sets of Friendship Bracelets to hand out to 3 of her friends.  Enter as many times as you want, choosing 3 different friends each time.

Can’t wait? Order your Friendship Bracelet set today and receive 25% off each set.  Not only will you renew your commitment to your friendship, you will support our global girlfriends of the Maasai. 
 

Recently, Philip and I were reminiscing about Rasta. You may recognize the name as one of your favorite Zulugrass colors,

 but the strand was named in honor of Philip’s pet banded mongoose, Rasta. 

Had some fun with the warehouse ladies trying to figure out the definition of this Swahili word: SHAMBA.  Guesses ranged from a male ceremonial dance to an animal! What’s your guess? Click here to hear the pronunciation.

Here is our new Shamba -our VEGGIE GARDEN - by the river.  You notice the wire is also on the top to keep the baboons out.  We have seeds from USA, UK, Amsterdam and Kenya.  The last ones to germinate were the ones from the USA.   Interesting…

In America, Independence Day is celebrated on July 4th because that is the day when the Continental Congress adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Every July 4th, Americans have a holiday from work. Communities have day-long picnics with favorite foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans and all the fixings. The afternoon activities would not be complete without lively music, a friendly baseball game, three-legged races and a pie-eating or watermelon-eating contest. Some cities even have parades with participants dressed as the original founding fathers, marching to the patriotic music of high school bands. At dusk, people in towns and cities gather to watch fireworks displays, complete with ooohs and aaahs. Wherever Americans are around the globe, they will get together for a traditional 4th of July celebration, paying tribute to all those who have fought for America’s freedom!

Freedom can take on many forms. Through Fair Trade labor practices, many artisan communities around the world are now able to enjoy financial independence. The gift of opportunity that we are able to provide through your support and our Fair Trade practices has enabled Maasai artisans to achieve that kind of economic freedom, too. Not only have the women been able to use their income for food, education fees, medical expenses, purchases of land and their own herds of goats, entire communities have become more stable financially and politically.

At your summer celebrations, think Hooray for the Red, White and Blue! Our patriotic collection offers 6 strands of various shades of red, white and blue Zulugrass for the price of 5 – normally a fantastic price but now it’s even better! For a limited time, it’s on sale for $49.95.

Happy Fourth of July from the entire TLC Team!

Now that the grass is back, it’s time to make walking sticks.  The traditional sticks are helpful in letting snakes know in advance of your arrival, something that can be useful to both parties.  During the drought, there wasn’t a blade of grass to hide them, but now it’s several feet tall and that can make for some unpleasant encounters.

The preferred wood here is Dombeya, but you can use any pliable stick, providing that it is long and strong.  Cut a piece about six feet in length. Hold it in the hot ash of a recently extinguished fire until the wood heats and become easy to bend which is about 5 minutes.  Move the stick through the ash so all parts of it are equally heated.

Take the stick out and curve it to straighten out any kinks and reheat the same way.  Continue with this until the stick is straight.

To remove the outer bark, heat the stick again and immediately peel away the thin outer cover.  Let the stick cool and rub with oil to seal the wood. Even corn oil will do if you don’t have wood finishing oil.  Here the Maasai use cooking fat or oil from their faces and hands.
Enjoy the walk!

With the rain, comes opportunity to grow.   This grasshopper is taking advantage and expanding his suit to the next size up.

See the old one clutched in his legs?   For him or her, going up a size is something to celebrate!

Grasshoppers go through many stages in their course of their life. And the third stage that Philip and I observe, the most colorful one, is why we named our Zulugrass strand GRASSHOPPER 189. Available at your local store.

We have World Cup fever here! Who are you rooting for? Read on to see how you can win Zulugrass in your favorite team’s colors.

For some, watching the 2010 World Cup  held in South Africa (June 11-July 11) will provide a month’s worth of exciting soccer games. And for others, watching the World Cup could save their lives.

Soccer – or football as it is called elsewhere - is the world’s game. It links people of all races, socio-economic backgrounds, and cultures together in a common interest. Children in the US play the same game, same rules as children in Kenya. Our own Kristan Fazio and Kathy Westergaard, who play on a soccer team in California, share a bond with some of our Maasai artisans who play football every day after work.

In a previous post, we applauded the efforts of school children in California who raised money by selling our Friendship Bracelets. They were able to purchase six indestructible soccer balls that couldn’t be punctured by the thorns in the bush for the Maasai children who are our neighbors. We are proud that this is one more way that we are building bridges between our cultures.

And we are also proud that Philip’s daughter, Tiana, is involved with a very important cause - Africa Goal: World Cup. “Driving from Nairobi, Kenya down to Johannesburg South Africa, projecting live World Cup football games on a retractable screen along the journey, the Africa Goal team will encounter a diverse range of audiences and peoples along a route that encompasses key localities in the region with the highest HIV prevalence in the World.”  Because the largest sector of the football audience is people aged between 15 and 49, correlating with the age sector most severely affected by HIV and AIDS, they have the opportunity to educate this group of passionate soccer supporters by screening HIV and AIDS awareness videos before every game.  Check their website for further details.

Here’s how to win 3 Zulugrass strands. Connect with us on Facebook, and become a fan, if you’re not already, by clicking the LIKE button at the top middle of our page. Then be the FIRST to choose a team you hope will win the World Cup. If that team wins, then YOU win 3 strands in their team colors. There are only 32 teams, so act fast! You need to be the FIRST to choose that team!  Click this link to find out which teams are competing. You can also show your support for the United States team with our Hooray for the Red, White and Blue Zulugrass set for the special World Cup price of $49.95.

The votes are in.  Drum roll, please…………………………

Congratulations to the winners of our Name That Strand contest - Alicia Lallier and Alicia Lallier! Yes, believe it or not, both of Alicia’s submissions had the most votes, and no, she is NOT related to the Leakeys! She will receive 5 strands of each of the newest additions to our gorgeous array of colors.

 LEAFY-LEAKEY

NATURE’S PATH

Again, thanks for all the great ideas and the follow-up votes. There are some really creative minds out there. And don’t worry, these beautiful new Zulugrass colors will be in your local stores this summer.

For years, we have had fun naming the strands.  Sometimes we name them in Kenya with everyone there participating, and sometimes we name them with our counterparts in the California office.  Some years ago, we came out with a large group of new colors at once and sat outside the warehouse in California looking at the array of new colors, having fun for hours, tossing out inspirations, good heartedly arguing over pet names and laughing.  When we hit it “right” with a name, everyone cheered, and we moved on to the next.  It was great fun.  With this wonderful world of social media, we have enjoyed including everyone into the process and will do it again.  I love the thought and research that all of you put into each suggestion.
 
I have narrowed the list to two names for each strand and will leave it up to you to decide the winners. 

CHOOSE ONE: Nature’s Path or Choco-espresso

CHOOSE ONE: Leafy-Leakey or Savanna

My personal vote for each is:  Choco-espresso for the brown and Savanna for the Olive.  I included the Leafy-Leakey in this selection because for years, people have been asking us to name one after Philip.  Besides, this is one of his favorite colors.

Have fun, and I can’t wait to see which one wins. 

With the rains have come hundreds of butterflies, and Philip has embarked on a mission to identify as many species as possible.  We were in fits of laughter watching each other run and jump around like children trying to catch the fast little things.

Some Maasai boys came along and thought we were crazy.  Then I handed them a net and they soon stopped laughing at us when they realized how difficult it was.

Can anyone identify this lovely Azure Butterfly?