With the cattle too weak, the Maasai have to eat porridge made from cereals, but prices are high. Staples like maize are up 136 per cent in Tanzania, driven up by fuel prices and drought.

Photo: Caroline Irby

In this remote district, prices are higher than anywhere. A 25kg container of maize grain, enough to feed a family of five for a week, costs up to 10,000 Tanzanian shillings (£5), nearly double the price in January 2008.

Photo: Caroline Irby

To feed their children local Maasai women such as Nongishu Kingi (left) have been forced to sell their traditional beadwork, often family heirlooms and wedding gifts.

Photo: Caroline Irby

These traditional Maasai beads, worn here by storekeeper Jojina Naromboi, are sold to tourists staying in nearby safari lodges.

Photo: Caroline Irby

The impact of rising prices is exacerbated by tourism. Many Maasai can no longer use water sources taken over by tourist lodges, and are being denied the right to farm their traditional lands.

Photo: Caroline Irby

Oxfam is speaking up for the Maasai's rights and helping them to cope with rising prices. This village grain store, run by a committee of elders, was built with Oxfam's help in 2007.

Photo: Caroline Irby

The committee uses a float to buy grain in bulk when it's cheap at harvest time. Then, as prices rise and fluctuate throughout the year, villagers are able to buy grain at a more stable, reduced rate.

Photo: Caroline Irby

Before the scheme, Elizabeth Lamakanga made a 120km journey with a donkey two times a month to get her grain. "We were very tired after the long journey. We had to sleep in the open and became sick."

Photo: Caroline Irby

The scheme has had an impact in other ways: on this day, Nongishu Kingi bought her week's supply of maize for 7,000 shillings (£3.50). Two days earlier, in a more remote village, the price had been 10,000 (£5).

Photo: Caroline Irby

With your help, Oxfam will continue to protect the Maasai from rising prices and climate-related shocks, supporting their way of life for the next generation.

Photo: Caroline Irby