AFR Clothing & Miss Senegal USA 2010 Partner to Help Orphans

AFR Clothing in conjunction with Miss Senegal USA 2010, Matel Sow, and Plan International West Africa are proud to announce their fundraising campaign for Senegal. AFR Clothing has partnered with Miss Senegal USA 2010 to raise funds for Senegalese orphans that Plan International West Africa takes care of. Miss Sow will be organizing various fundraising efforts in the Chicago area and AFR Clothing will be providing the apparel with Plan International - West Africa being the beneficiary. The funds will go towards educating these orphans. Plan International West Africa is an NGO working to improve the lives of children in Senegal and around the world.



Senegal is one of West Africa's most popular destinations. The capital Dakar is a vibrant, lively city with colorful markets, plenty of hustlers and good nightclubs. Senegal is culturally rich, famous for its excellent musicians – Akon is a prime example. There are fine beaches, pretty colonial towns, lagoons and rivers to explore and much more.



In addition to being Miss Senegal USA 2010, Matel Sow is also a Peace Ambassador who is more than honored to represent her country. Sow is currently a student at the University of Chicago, double majoring in International Studies and Public Policy, and minoring in Human Rights. She is very interested in developmental issues - especially in Africa - as well issues related to women and children. Having spent last summer in Senegal teaching English to local youths, and volunteering at a woman's center in Dakar, Sow believes that women are the backbone of Africa. Sow is quoted saying, “They are mothers, teachers, doctors, spouses, cooks, nurses, caregivers and the list goes on…so, we must empower these women so that they can in turn contribute to the development of Africa.” It is such a vision that led her to be selected as the West African Ambassador for AFR Clothing. Such initiatives are what AFR Clothing is all about – our mission is to spread the love in AFRica and our vision is to donate to 53 charities in 53 AFRican countries by 2020. This campaign makes it 3 charities in 3 AFRican countries – with Ndoro Children’s Charities in Zimbabwe and NOAH in South Africa preceding.



Kingstone Matsekeza, Co-Founder of AFR Clothing said “I am very excited about our new campaign with the gorgeous Miss Senegal USA 2010, Matel Sow. Her involvement with AFR Clothing proves that her beauty originates far deeper than the skin; it is beauty within. There is a lot of work we need to do and together we will educate AFRica; one shirt at a time.” Nelson Mandela once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Let's utilize this weapon and help change Africa. Let’s Spread the Love in AFRica.

Hot African Potato; how some families in Africa educate their own

Taona and Tafara help each other as the shiny car made its way to the front of the house.



A sizeable gathering had enveloped their house; women in the house, wailing and irrigating the green carpet with their tears. Clad in Chitenges, with matching headgear, the senior aunts of the family sang a lament that rent every heart that heard it. “Muka, Mavis, tinamate... Muka Mavis, tinamate....” Wake up, Mavis, let us pray... Wake up, Mavis, let us pray.... Although Mavis was in the bedroom, and the ladies sang loudly enough to wake her up, she was beyond prayer now; life had oozed out of her body over a pain-staking 5 months. She was gone. Her husband had gone before her... probably to sort out the gardening and check the plumbing of their house in the promised city of gold. Today was not Mavis’ death day... no, that had happened three days ago. Today was her burial. However, in Africa, one is not truly dead until they are buried.



The wailing women were sat in the living room and along the hallway of the house in Mabelreign. They took turns to start hymns and confess their loss. Every new arrival to the funeral had to walk through the living room to pass their condolences. “Nematambudziko....” With great grief.... That was how it was said, the condolence. While the new arrivals were greeting everyone else, the women in the room would be lamenting quietly, but as soon as they reached tete Tanya all the floodgates were open. You see, Tanya was Mavis’ twin sister, the remnant of a generation of the Venhamo’s that had suffered great loss recently. In a year they had buried four and the fifth was on her way to earth’s loving womb. This was the cue for the women to resume their mourning.

Once past the circuit of crying women, the males were allowed to retreat to the bonfire outside, where the other men were. The atmosphere here was alien to that inside the house. The men were drinking opaque beer and talking about everything; women, life, politics, work, children... everything but Mavis, her death and the children. Sekuru Tobi was the loudest; even daring to share jokes on such a melancholic day. The men all drank from the same pot, frequently ordering the youngest among them to go into the house to top up the pot when the beer was finished. Poor Mukoma Tapera would have to navigate the treacherous circuit of crying women with his head hung low meekly. He probably drank the least, yet did all the top-ups. He is today’s bus-boy; but grateful for it. Tete Tanya adopted him after his parents tragically died in a car crash. She paid his school fees, levy, clothed and fed him. He is due to complete his O’levels at night school this year. The 24 year old young man wishes to be a mechanic.



There was another fire at the other side of the house. This one was not the bonfire of festivities like the men’s one. It was another wailing headquarters. There was a large tripod pot on the fire, with off-white maize meal bubbling away as the women prepared sadza. Occasionally, Mukoma Tapera would be asked to be the men’s emissary to the sadza. Tapera asked the women who were crying and cooking when they would finish. Tete Chemai said that they were nearly done; just waiting for the salt for soda to put in the pumpkin leaf pot and then they would thicken the sadza and serve. Tapera then asked about the children, to which Chemai said they would be served after everyone else as there were not enough plates, and the car was scheduled to arrive in two hours. The children were all playing in the other bedroom; forbidden to enter the main bedroom where Mavis’s body lay.



Just then, the gate was opened again and a green Ford Laser rolled into the yard. This was not the car everyone was waiting for. It was Takura’s car. Takura was Mavis’ cousin. He was a mechanic at a local garage. He lived in Chitungwiza in a two-bedroomed house with his wife, four kids and at least seven other relatives. Takura tried hard to look after his family, but tragedy struck time and again in the extended family and his boughs could not support all their weight. At night, Takura and his wife would sleep on the bed; with his youngest two daughters would sleep on the floor of their bedroom. All four male cousins shared the tiny boys bedroom with Tendai, Takura’s firstborn. The girls had two rooms, the modest living room and the kitchen, which, after cleaning, they would put the chairs on top of the table to create more room. Supporting such a large family was a burden that Takura responsibly tackled. He offered no luxury; not even to himself, but guaranteed two meal a day. Bread for tea and dinner.



Takura took off his hat and entered the house, with hat under arm and hands together. This stance enabled him to avoid greeting everyone in the room. A nod would suffice. Except for tete Tanya, who required a handshake, hug and tears. Takura then proceeded to the main bedroom where his beloved cousin lay. He knew immediately that the family had lost a mother and there would be great shifts. Mavis used to give him some money to help the household. She also housed 9 others in the house she rented; this house. This meant 11 more family to try and house, feed and school. This was beyond the family’s budget, so some would have to be let go; perhaps to the local orphanages or to the rural areas where the granduncles and grandaunts may look after them.



There is an old Shona saying that, loosely translated, goes, “An orphan will feast and have plenty on the day their mother dies.” The saying is more subtle than the obvious irony that can be milked from looking at it at first glance; for we all know that many orphans live deprived lives. During the funeral, many family members promised to assist Taona and Tafara, Mavis’ children. None of the adults committed to caring for the children, and none could afford to take them on. Mavis had not written a will, trusting her relatives’ sense of duty to care for her children when she would pass away. The uncles and aunts who lived with Taona and Tafara would have to move out of the house as they were all in school still, painfully funded by Mavis’ every penny. Some would find jobs, others go to the rural areas, and some of the aunties would have to find husbands as a matter of urgency. Such is life when the lifeline loses its life.



Mavis did not have much in her life; she had invested a lot of her money into helping the family. Countless uncles, aunts, etcetera, had passed through her house and moved on. None of them came back to help, although they knew perfectly how she had selflessly sacrificed her life for their betterment. At least 21 people had got through to their O’Levels at her expense. Every Takura owed his modest survival to her; for she took him from Bocha, where he was herding another uncle’s cattle, and paid for his primary and secondary education. It broke Takura’s heart that he would not be able to assist Taona and Tafara in the way their mother assisted him. By giving him education, she had given him a genuine shot at a life that he would have a decent job in; options, possibilities. It was not a ticket to great wealth, but a ticket out of great poverty.



The tragedy was that Taona and Tafara were both brilliant scholars; top of the class since records began. Would anyone care, and would anyone give them the chance to continue with education; perhaps a scholarship... anything.... They are probably the most promising of the family, but the loss of their parents has threatened their own potential in life and stunned their growth and hope to establish themselves.



(Although the characters in this story are imaginary, the situation they face is a microcosm of the lives that many Africans experience. It is our desire to guarantee the education of every African child, and continual support until they can fend for themselves. A lot of charities operate in Africa, but they have been criticising for not doing enough. We feel that they are doing their best but need people who can help them raise money for their causes. We will send a child in Africa to school for a term with every shirt purchased. Look Good While Doing Good.)



Kingstone Matsekeza is an Actuarial Science Graduate from the University of Kent . He heads the UK group of Authentic Fashion Renaissance.

Genuine change in the way the being of African fashion is perceived; a holistic study.

Any change in the way people perceive the way they dress needs to start by defining the base from which this transition occurs. For an authentic fashion renaissance, we need to look at the body, soul and spirit of the apparel. This holistic approach used in this article aims to show the idea that all the properties of a given fashion sense (physical, biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, spiritual, political, functional, aesthetic, etc…) cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave. As Aristotle rightly put it; the whole should be greater than the sum of its parts.

Our hope is to maintain the good in the current concepts; the functional elements that have survived the speedy and sometimes ruthless nature of the winds of change in the fashion world. If the shark were to evolve, it would not change much because it is already fine-tuned to eat the existing prey, dominate the existing seas and, for the foreseeable future at least, will remain so. However, if he were given the chance overnight to remove some redundancies, fix the bugs, increase speed and enhance his scale armoury, he would be a fool to pass up the opportunity. A universal evolution would be a huge job; requiring digging deep into the very DNA of the evolutionee; finding the phenotypes that gave him an edge and those that disadvantaged him. We would like an Africa-inspired fashion renaissance; so we will need to put African fashion on the centrifuge; understand its properties; break it down to its constituent elements and then rebuild it around our current environment.

The body of African fashion
For a long time, Africa was wrongly described as the land of boobs, hips, thighs and big bums. While it is true that the continent has its fair share of curvy and even big women, there is also the African petite, the skinny-tall, the chubby-short, the bum-less thunder-thighs, to name a few shapes you will find. My point is that there is serious variation in the shape of the woman. The colonial “one-size-fits-all-Africans” mentality just cannot hold water. Customisable clothing; clothing in different cuts, stretchy clothing… Perhaps this is why ancient Africans used the chitenge ( Zambia ), which would be folded to the wearer’s size; however big or small they may have been.



The body of African fashion also explores the materials chosen in pre-colonial Africa , the change during colonisation and the preference post-colonisation. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the materials of choice were leather, cotton and (for the elite) imported silk from China . In the North, the Egyptians had mastered customisation of tunics and kalasiris of flax (or byssus) linen. The Masai had matavuvale, shuka or kanga. The flowing lines of the cloth allowed for free circulation of air in the normally hot continent. Many books and articles are written on ancient African clothing; a rich heritage which was nearly lost during the acculturation period in Africa
The body also remembers the chemicals that form authentic African clothing; the dyes, the tannin, the threads and the fibres....

During Africa ’s dark days of slave trade, it is noted that the richer slave-trading nations sought fine European cloth; brilliant colours, textures and cuts…. During colonisation, it is noted that African fashion was very dynamic. The European merchants were able to satisfy the demand by producing many colours, designs and patterns. This is where most people’s minds on African fashion are taken; the clothes they made using the cloth they were sold rather than our glorious time of inventing cloth; weaving cloth and dying it; producing some beautiful near-symmetric (and irregular) patterns. As the local weaver was out-competed by the European mass-produced cloth, which offered greater choice for lower price, the art of the cloth-maker was suffering a dearth as did most of Africa ’s fine arts. This notion has inspired me to research into the cloth that Africa used to make. If we can sample some of this cloth and make it relevant and modern, perhaps we will succeed in our aim to alter the way African fashion is viewed. Moreover, if we can format it in an electronic (machine-code) way, we could even bring this cloth to the mainstream. The Scottish people have eternalised their tartan and it is recognised in modern couture; even appearing in high fashion pieces. This is the aspiration I have for a truly unadulterated African textile.



Emotion, volition, choice, intellect, personality and the very essence of matter are in its soul (if it has one). The emotion of African fabric; its will and power over men’s imagination… the conundrum that the idea of choice brings… the though process that the designer embroiders into the seams of the cloth; the personality attributed to each garment; the caste, the power, glory, strength, vulnerability, piety engrossed in each song of the weaver’s shuttle!! Africa clothing is about functionality and movement; agility, practicality, resilience, strength, beauty protection and above all love. If we can preserve the soul of the being, the spirit will have a chance at redemption… but the well-being of the soul can only be obtained after that of the body has been secured. (Maimonides). The same said that the highest faculty of the soul is the intellect, and its highest function is to discern the true and the false. African fashion had a conscience; aware of the environment and responsible. However, this aspiration can only be ascertained in our renaissance if we ensure responsible sourcing; care for the environment and the people in the manufacturing process. Having an ethical basis in our fashion is the way to achieve this. If, for every amount of trespass to the environment the production of a garment commits, an offset of kind can be guaranteed, we will have enshrined this virtue in our clothing. The political and social importance of clothing as status symbols cannot be overemphasised. From the galant robes of the Pharaohs to the warrior Zulu King, Shaka's regalia, clothing has always inspired the imagination of men; some to lofty heights where they felt equal to God himself.

The spirit is to do with acknowledgement of the origin of the inspiration to cover, wrap, protect and warm. It is a higher calling than volition, personality and essence; whatever it may be. The spirit is the very identity of the fashion. It is the unalterable part of what we do. Beyond the DNA that defines the rules of construction, the spirit is the life that changes a collection of proteins, fibres and oils into a living, breathing organism. When the spirit departs from the soul, the body is lifeless, dead and forgotten.

So I have explored African style in its embodiment and have come to the conclusion that an authentic transformation is possible; as long as the spirit and form does not alter; the soul thrives in its innocence and the body adapts to the changed environment.

Kingstone Matsekeza is an Actuarial Science Graduate from the University of Kent . He heads the UK group of Authentic Fashion Renaissance.

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