Greetings from GHANA #1

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CURRENT LOCATION: Accra City Hotel, Accra, Ghana

LOCAL TIME: 19h30 (1 hour behind Paris time)

LOCAL TEMPERATURE: 33 degrees

CURRENTLY READING: As Long as Grass Grows - Dina Gilio-Whitaker

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Hi all,

It has been a while since I have taken the time to write a newsletter. Back in October I returned to Belgium, started working in Paris, and reconnected with many friends and family. The universe has many things lined out and when I was planning my trip last year, my initial idea was to work for the Or Foundation in Accra, Ghana. Things didn’t work out and I knew one day I would end up there, little did I know it would be so fast.

The OR Foundation office, with on the left an upcycled towel and on the right an old rice bag filled with shredded T-shirts on the inside

Last Sunday, together with Andrée-Anne (my beloved teacher, mentor, and friend I met during my master's in Paris) and Ingrid (a fellow student who is also working on the project), we left for a week filled with encounters, impressions, and emotions.

Why go to Accra, Ghana?

On the left hand-woven carpets from leftover garments, on the right Ingrid and Andrée-Anne in the Or Foundation office

Every week, 15 million (!!!) second-hand garments arrive in Ghana. Where do these garments come from you might ask? I think we have all donated some old clothing pieces to a charity, and believe we are doing something “good”. Well, all these “good deeds” end up being shipped across the world, with the major streams moving from the Global North to the Global South. Waste colonialism as you should call it.

It has been going on for years and is killing communities, who have to carry the burden they should not be carrying. The combination of increasing quantities and an ever-decreasing quality (garments are often stained, dirty, smelly, broken, too big or inappropriate for the local culture) is having its toll.

So how does the process work?
Every week around 10-15 containers arrive in Accra, each filled with around 200 bales of clothes. 1 bale weighs 50 kg and consists of up to 250 clothes. Local retailers who work in the Kantamanto market (the biggest resale market in the world), buy one of these bales, without knowing what is inside. A huge risk, as they go into debt to do this. They ask Kayayei (a young girl transporting the bale by head carrying) to bring this bale to their store (remember that this weighs 50 kg). Once there it is opened and the struggle begins. Before they had the time to select the right pieces and hardly any of them were wasted. Today, 40% of the garments that arrive are immediately waste. So what happens with all these pieces that cannot be sold? Let me introduce you to the circular force of Kantamanto’s designers, tailors and upcyclers.

Some images of the Kantamanto market, while we are shooting a documentary to highlight all the craftsmanship that exists in the market

Exploring the city of Accra

The transformative force of the market players

On the left: Sampson transforming a polo with stains into a new piece, On the right: Kwaku and I proud of an upcycled polo I made myself!

And despite all of this they manage, they do what no one else wants to do: they create incredible pieces from what others have labelled as waste. Stained T-shirts are reimagined, bedsheets are turned into boxers, tanktops are overprinted, and so on. Limited resources and a lack of infrastructure (there have been regular fires in the market), combined with an exhausting rhythm (they work 6 days a week, from 6h00-18h00) don’t stop them to keep going.

But going for what exactly? They are trapped in an abusive system they are the victim of. The vendors get hardly a few cents for a garment they sell, need to go into debt and keep spiralling in a vicious circle. Yes, they are angry, yes they are worried, and yes they are stressed, but above anything, they are oh-so-talented. They deserve to be heard, to be respected and to receive dignity for the work they do.

This trip has changed me for good and for the better. I want to tap energy from everything I saw, heard or felt and use it as a force for good. Yes, I am privileged, yes I take many things for granted, and yes I can choose to be part of the change. Every positive action counts, and we can all make a difference. Ask yourself:

#whomademyclothes?

#whomademyfabric?

Oh and one final thing: #fuckfastfashion, really! 

Lots of love, lots of hope, and hope to write to you all soon again,

#letsgochangetheworld

Hester