The
Story Of The Baseball Caps
While visiting a certain family in the Mathare slums we had
the opportunity to meet a mother who was dying of HIV/AIDS,
and her two teenage children, a 16 year old daughter, Naomi,
and an 18 year old son, James. The father had died a couple
of years ago of AIDS. It is rare in this culture for children
of this age to be willing to hang around and support their dying
parent. James did not have a job but was looking for any temporary
“day” job he could find to provide a little bit
of food for the family. It became obvious that these teenagers
were different than most, as they expressed a willingness to
help.
A couple of days later while going through some donated inventory
at the HEART Compound, we came across a bag of around
50 ball caps, someone’s collection they had decided to
send to Kenya at some point in the past. Many were new
caps still with the tags hanging on them.
Knowing that anything with an American emblem, sports or other,
is a hot item here in Kenya, we decided to take the caps and
give them to James for him to sell. This turned out to
be a great business for him, as he quickly sold the ball caps
which provided them with enough money to purchase a surplus
of grain which they continue to sell for an income.
There are many things, like these ball caps that are “gold”
here in Kenya. Get creative, what do you have stored away
in a box someplace that might give someone in Kenya a second
chance at life? |
