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Thursday, July 1, 2004

A Maasai at the 2004 Olympics

eShopAfrica gets a lot of emails from all over the world asking for help in getting African products. One day we got an email from H&H Sculptors in England who were looking for authentic Maasai attire.

They were casting a full sized Maasai scupture for the exhibition: Ptychoseis: Folds + Pleats: Drapery from Ancient Greek Dress to 21st-Century Fashion organised by the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation and the Cultural Olympiad.

Although eShopAfrica has some contacts in Kenya, we don't source authentic Maasai products (yet) so we asked for help from some friends working with AMREF the Kenyan based NGO.

One of their staff bought the complete Maasai outfit including earrings, armbands and hair clips and sent them to London where the statue was dressed before being sent to Greece. The photos below show the Maasai modelling for for the cast and the finished sculpture - it's hard to tell which is which:

The Masaai who modeled for the statue



The Masaai statue



eShopAfrica nominated for the Tech Awards

eShopAfrica was nominated for the Tech Awards 2004 that awards innovators who use technology to benefit humanity. Visit the Tech Awards website