Lets not be part of the problem BUT lets be part of the solution

According to UNICEF, due to the AIDS crisis, it is estimated that more than 15 million children worldwide have been orphaned, with approximately 11.6 million of these children in sub-Saharan Africa. In some African countries, children who have been orphaned by AIDS comprise half or more of all orphans nationally, with the governments of these countries offering little or no care for them. Thus, many orphans end up on the street, doing what they can to survive. UNICEF has estimated that by 2015, the number of orphaned children will still be overwhelmingly high. “The increased spiral of adult deaths in so many countries means that the number of children orphaned each day is expanding exponentially. Africa is staggering under the load.“ Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa.

There are many problems faced by orphans when they have a parent or both parents living with HIV, including stigmatisation from the community and/or family members, emotional and/or physical neglect and eventually trauma suffered from the death of their parent(s). Furthermore, children orphaned by AIDS are often not able to receive standard education as they may, for example, miss out on school enrolment, have their schooling interrupted due to lack of funds for school fees, etc.

Without a basic education, children will face more economic and social problems in their adult life. Furthermore, they will miss out on AIDS education in school which is vital. AIDS education in schools is vital because children are in a learning environment where there are more ready to absorb information, including information on the prevention of HIV and how to reduce the risk of infection in the future. Thus, this will lead to reducing the number of orphaned children in Africa in the future.

This is why it is so important to AFR to be a part of providing education to orphans in Africa through the sale of our shirts. AFR has already donated to NOAH orphanage in South Africa. NOAH is an organisation dedicated to helping orphans of HIV/AIDS throughout South Africa. The overwhelmingly high statistics on AIDS orphans in Africa can be reduced....so ‘let’s be a part of the change and educate the children of Africa one shirt at a time’.

By Teurai Chanakira

AFR Clothing - Now Is the time

AFR Clothing - Now is the Time

The two sides of the African coin

The two sides of the African coin

As a child growing up in Africa, my parents urged me to finish all the food given to me; for the sake of the less fortunate children who had no food. I was ordered not to waste food because the act disrespected those who had nothing to eat. We were not particularly wealthy; we were slightly above average... comfortable as a result of my parents' sweat. Then, Zimbabwe was more like a 6-sided die that fate would have us roll, dealing us plenty (6) or lack (1) and everything in-between. However, economic and political shifts in the country squashed the dice into a coin of sorts... with only the option to have plenty or to lack (6 or 1 respectively)... those who have more dinners than appetites and those with more appetites than dinners. A child's life became a Bernoulli trial; with the outcome determining the quality of life they would have, the food available to them, the resources at their disposal and their future all together. Let's call the side of plenty heads and the side of lack tails.

There are 2 kinds of coins, fair coins and biased coins. Fair coins give equal likelihood of either head or tail to come up when tossed. If such a model were adopted in Africa, it would mean that approximately half the children would have a realistic chance of success. However, in my eyes, half is not enough. There are 2 types of biased coins; one that is biased to heads and the other to tails. When a biased coin is tossed, the outcome is likely to favour one, and such is the plight of the African child under certain conditions. In a stable economy, with a government supporting education, subsidising it for the needy, the coin is heads biased and, although some will toss and get tails, the majority will be in a position conducive to prosperity. In an unstable nation with war, etc, the coin favours lack, poverty and destruction. We have the ability to consciously choose the coin we give Africa's children to toss; and therefore the life they will lead.

I have many relatives in Africa. Some have done well for themselves while others are struggling to make ends meet. Let me put it into perspective; I have some cousins who have amassed great wealth and are living the dream, flash cars, fine dining, mansions, private education for their children and all the trimmings. I also have cousins who have the daily tango with starvation; their children often sent away from school for not paying fees, had built a house but it was destroyed, walk to work. Now, I'd like to think that my rich cousins' children may not be as intelligent as my poorer cousins, yet they have access to resources such as the internet, private tutors and the likes... they are well travelled and have grasped the way the world works in a way my other cousins will sadly never understand. One may ask, “Why will your rich cousins not give to your poor cousins?” As a child I used to dream of such a thing but as I grew older I realised that everyone looks after number one first; my rich cousin will not allow my poor cousin to starve to death, yet he does not have the ability to lift him out of poverty permanently or completely, it is too late. However, if he did sacrifice more and invested his excess into his nephews and nieces education, perhaps they will have enough of a boost to shun poverty and have better lives.

I would like to expand on an expression, “if you give a man a fish, you would have fed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you'd have fed him for a lifetime.” I have discovered that if instead you teach his children to fish, you would not only have fed him for a lifetime, but fed his family for generations to come.AFR has a vision not to just give fish, or teach men to fish, but to invest in their children; they will feed themselves as well as their parents, grandparents and children. This is why we are not pouring money at poor people but investing in their children's education. Perhaps in time we will have a coin so biased that it will not let a child be predestined to starvation and poverty. So we will design, develop, manufacture and retail high quality apparel with the intention to educate Africa, one shirt at a time.

Kingstone Matsekeza has just graduated with honours in Actuarial Science at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Awareness - NOAH in South Africa

AFR Clothing goals are to - build awareness, take action, and bring about change. By they end of this blog you shall be AWARE of what NOAH, an organization that supports more than 27,000 orphans in South Africa, does and how YOU can take ACTION to bring about CHANGE. There are currently about 1.5 million orphans in South Africa and NOAH has done its fair share to assist these orphans.


It is true that the challenges faced by Africa are great. However, our collective efforts will help alleviate these challenges. Although this may sound cliché, it is a harsh reality - the world's future is in the hands of the youth. It is essential that everyone becomes aware of this and takes strides to change this. The time to ACT is now. We need to invest in our youth. We need to empower our youth. We need to love our youth. The time is now to reinforce the foundation laid for our youth and ensure that they have the best start to life.

NOAH invests in orphaned youths; youths that do not have people to love and care for them. Needless to say, NOAH needs OUR help to reach out to the millions of orphaned youths that are out there seeking for help.



Let's Spread the LOVE in AFRica. Lets take ACTION and become agents of CHANGE.

Please watch the video below and visit - www.noahorphans.org.za

Awareness, Action, Change!

For there to be change in AFRica people need to be AWARE of the problems occurring in the region. When people are aware then they can take ACTION which will bring out the CHANGE.




AFR Clothing's strategy encompasses all 3 elements:

Awareness - through our afro-centric t-shirts, AFR builds awareness of the challenges faced by AFRica. AFR Clothing has focused on building awareness on how the challenges faced in educating orphans.

Action - people who purchase apparel from AFR Clothing are taking action in changing the lives of the millions of impoverished AFRicans.

Change - the lives of beneficiaries from AFR Clothing donations will have their lives changed.

It is time that every GLOBAL citizen joins AFR Clothing in changing the world. Lets Educate AFRica one shirt @ a Time and Let's Spread the Love in AFRica.