By: Lova Rakotomalala An article by BuzzFeed that recently went viral with over 1.6 million Facebook shares, highlighted 21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity. Unfortunately, Africa and Africans were absent from the piece. Despite efforts to change existing narratives, the African continent is still widely known as a leading recipient of international aid and the place where international NGOs come to ‘save’ the [...]
By: Morgana Wingard Life happens here. Babies trade a death sentence for life. Mothers transform their sickly skeleton figures to healthy able bodies. Tema offers hope in a place that was once hopeless — ravaged by AIDS. Funded by The Global Fund through financial support from Product (RED) Tema Hospital cares for 2,200 people living with HIV. We recently visited their [...]
By: Katie Radford Where do your clothes come from? Do you know who made them? More often than not, we look at the aesthetics of the clothing to tell a story about ourselves and don’t consider the story of the actual piece. For the past fifteen months, I have worked with a fashion organization called Of Rags, which is changing how [...]
By: J. Branson. Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Of Rags: Sustainable Fashion Walking down Broadway in New York City where I live, the ads plastered on the plate glass windows of low cost retailers make it clear that Back to School is for many students a time of shopping to get up to date with the most recent trends for the coming [...]
Authors, photo and video by ListenIn Pictures – Annie Escobar and Ethan Goldwater http://listeninpictures.com/ From across the courtyard I saw ten or so students huddled around in a circle. Curious, I approached them to get a glimpse of what they were looking at and saw them all gravitating towards the small screen on one of the flip cams that they [...]
As Boyu said this she smiled wide with her light-up-the-world, gap-toothed grin. Kind and intelligent, soft-spoken but strong, Boyu represents to me the power of perseverance, strength and determination. When I look at her I see calmness on the surface, but an unstoppable drive, an inner pulse that propels her forward hovering right below. Boyu, age 21, has been able [...]
By J. Branson Skinner, Founder of Of Rags I love to think that a movement of the masses will change the world. I believe it is true. Yet even with revolution as the end game, our strongest attribute is our moderation. In Pathways to Prohibition, Ann-Marie Szymanski highlights how the temperate but persistent effort of prohibionists led to the ultimate radical [...]
By: Dani Harriott This phrase has been echoing in my head since we landed in Ghana, West Africa. It’s not that I believe, as an Australian, I have the better way of life. I just wonder Are we really going to make a difference? It’s such a loaded phrase, “Make a difference. Make a change.” What change? Why? Bringing clean [...]
By: Doreen Panzarella I became interested in community development and building relationships within and between communities since I began volunteering at my local hospital at the age of fourteen. It was my passion for connecting with others and the stories shared that inspired me to pursue medicine and public health. This passion also led me to Ghana in the Summer [...]
Combine New York style with Ghana fashion and you get Of Rags Faitrade fashion. Started and established by James Branson in 2009. James saw how he could use the Fashion Industry to impact a large group of people and to create change at the same time. Of Rags is not just another label, but with an outstanding promise.. “our commitment to reinvest 40 percent of the [...]
