The fight to preserve the prestigious Maa culture has gone a notch higher after a Maasai Moran launched a Maa culture and language digital app.
Benson Nalakai said he was driven by the fact that the world was in the digital era and many young people spend their time on the internet.
The app has rich information on the Maa rich traditions that include: their beliefs, cuisine, dressing among others, that can now be accessed at a click of the button.
“I felt there was a need to digitize our culture. We can use the digital era to preserve and promote our culture for posterity,” he said.
The digital app was launched in a Narok hotel and attended by Narok government senior officials, representatives from the Maa council of elders, traditional chiefs among others.
Narok County Government Director of Culture Violet Sikawa said the app is a big win for the Maa people who have preserved their culture to date.
She reiterated that the county government supports the noble idea and will continue contributing to the development of the app to have more content.
“Nalakai has been leading the digitalization and documentation of culture, he took the step ahead to come up with an app that gives the entire history of the Maa culture, cuisine and way of dressing. This is a great milestone for our county,” she said.
The Senior Maa Cultural Chief Daniel Ole Kiplosh said the digitalization of Maa culture is one way to safeguard the Maa culture and benefit the coming generations.
“We embrace this and we will support and adapt it. We will advance even better. We want the world to know of our rich culture at a click of a button,” he said.
A representative from the Maasai Council of elders Mzee Joseph Ole Kaaria observed that digitizing the Maa culture was the best way to preserve the culture as it was greatly threatened by modernity.
“With so much globalization going on, our culture is at risk of extinction. This is a noble idea to preserve our culture for future generations,” he added.
By Ann Salaton