I have just returned from six weeks on the road with The Pastoral Women’s Council in Northern Tanzania.

The days were long and the continuous car journeys across the immense landscape were even longer. Village to village, week by week, I think we must have covered every inch of Maasai country. It was tiring, the roads dangerous at times, physically demanding, mentally exhausting, and absolutely bloody brilliant.

Working with The PWC were some of the most motivating and inspiring hours I have probably ever spent doing anything. The team are a collection of indescribably dedicated people who embody the phrase “giving back.” They are educated, they are optimistic, they are motivated, and they are committed to giving back to their communities in a way I could have hardly comprehended unless I had seen it for myself. Spending days, weeks, and months on the road at a time they leave their families to visit remote villages where women and children need their help. They are working tirelessly to change things for their communities and seeing them in action was quite a humbling experience.

It was a privilege to meet them, to learn more from them about the plight of Maasai women and children, and the Maasai culture in general, and the work that I did simply would not have been possible without them. Like literally, it would not have been even close to possible as I do not speak the dialect and I had no other means of transport! They are a fun and lively bunch as well and that never hurts now does it?

Unfortunately I was not able to write as many blog posts as I would have liked to while over there, but I simply did not have the access to internet that I would have needed, and so I tried to keep up with behind the scenes images and info on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@realeyesannie). Hopefully some of you followed along and didn’t mind too much my hijacking of your news feeds.

The majority of the trip was spent travelling to the various projects of PWC in most of the areas in which they work. From Song and Dance Projects, to Women’s Right’s Committees, to Sponsored Girls, to Women’s Livestock Projects, we visited, and I documented.

The girls that I met at the various schools were so dedicated. They just simply wanted to be in school, and were thrilled that they had the chance. They had such a burning desire to learn, and to be educated, and they spoke of it as if it was the absolute ONLY thing standing between them and a life of premature marriage, early motherhood, and a future they don’t want. Probably because education IS the only thing standing between them and that life they don’t want.

They cling on to education like a fly to honey because they know it is the only way forward for them. What stands in their way sometimes is an inability to pay for the schooling, and the girls who are lucky enough to be sponsored know they are the lucky ones. Like families all around the world many Maasai parents simply do not have the means to put them through school. Sponsorship is so important for them….

…and so the girls spoke to me spiritedly (in impeccable English might I add) of their educational experiences, of their home villages, and of their lives at the school…. and then the quality of their voices change when I ask them what would happen if their sponsorship ended.

” I want to be a doctor so I can help my community, so I NEED to be in school. This is my dream. If I don’t have sponsorship, then none of this is possible. How can I help my community then? What help am I to anyone then?”

Hearing them and the desperation in their voices made me hate myself for every half-assed school assignment I ever turned in, every day that I pretended to be ill so that I could skip out on a day of class. How much I just took it all for granted. How much we all took it for granted. Perspective change to say the least.

The women that I met village after village were so open with me once they learned that I was working with PWC, and they really understood the importance and potential of sharing their stories in front of the lens. These women wanted their stories and their voices to be heard, and I as a photographer was extremely grateful for their openness.

Day after day I heard stories from women whose lives were changing for the better because of PWC’s projects. If you have read any of my other blog posts about PWC then you may have read a bit about Maasai culture and about some of the projects and how they are helping change norms. Livestock projects are giving women economic power, and a voice, something not typical in Maasai society, and once they find this voice, they really are starting to use it!!! (Many times much to the dismay of the men)

The various other PWC projects from Women’s Rights Committees to My Rights My Voice are working to help educate the Maasai about their rights, and give them a platform for sharing their stories, and voicing their opinions.

PWC is working on the ground 27 hours a day, 8 days a week, beyond their means, to help raise women up. But change and progress can take a long time, and unfortunately takes a lot of funding as well.

The current struggles the Maasai people are facing with Land rights is another very serious issue they face at the moment and while I did not personally document this, they are up against monumental threats, and you can read much more about their land struggles here and here. They are facing what most unfortunate groups of people in history have had to face when their land has suddenly become valuable to outside groups, and the Maasai of Northern Tanzania have the real misfortune of living in some of the most coveted Safari territory in all the world. It is a very serious thing they are facing right now, up against big government, and big foreign money, and they are trying to garner as much international attention about it as possible. It is the only chance they have really to ensure the survival of their indigenous culture. International pressure and media interest seems to be their only fight.

My time with PWC was obviously very personally rewarding, but was also incredibly fruitful work-wise. As I now begin to process all of the content that I returned with and the editing process commences, I hope to have much more content and shareable material to present to you in the coming weeks. Perhaps all I ask is that you do just that, share. I will do my best to create some video and content in the coming weeks that is deliciously shareable and cool, and maybe if I can get Bieber to see some of this stuff his trillions of followers will do all of the work for me. Ideal!

Hopefully we can all find a way to relate to these stories, and see these as universal issues. The world is getting so small, we are all becoming so interconnected, and we can do so much more to contribute now that we couldn’t have done before.

In the words of one of the Maasai women who so eloquently summed it all up for me:

“The progress of the Maasai and the progress of women is the progress of all people.”

Won’t argue with that.

-Anne