The reason we ship a wristband with all our clothing orders.
On a trip to Mozambique a number of years ago, we met some children selling wristbands. They make them by hand, using threads, beads and shells, and they seemed to be walking around selling them every day. Back when we were their age, we were playing, not working, was the first thought that came to mind.
Remember, you can’t necessarily change the world, but you can definitely change someone’s world.
After arriving back home, we started wondering what would happen if we became the biggest customers for wristbands and bought regularly? Would this help the children attend school, and provide them with an income for themselves and their family on the side? Would it mean that they could spend more time just being children, not having to sell wristbands every day? This would not be charity exactly, it would be business, but is it right, is it not child labour? Wait a minute, they are doing it anyway, we are simply helping them on their way by becoming their biggest customers.
So that’s what we did, and now with the help of a local contact, we get a bunch of wristbands every month. It started out with just 2 boys that made wristbands for us each month, and now it is a dozen or so children from the local school that could do with the financial support. The money they get every month pays for their school needs with some left over for the family. Remember, you can’t necessarily change the world, but you can definitely change someone’s world.
Another thing we helped with, was rebuilding the local school after a cyclone blew the roof completely off! They had been roofless for a couple of years already, so it was about time someone did something. We had the funds to get a roof on one of the three buildings, and hope to get the remaining two fixed up in the future.
