Explorers Partner with Girls in Tanzania

Girls in Tanzania create beautiful items for Explorers to sell. All funds helped Explorers and girls of Wotesawa Domestic Workers Organization with career and education goals.

Photos by Wotesawa Domestic Workers Association

Ocean is no barrier for Girl Power!

The Explorers met Angela Benedicto, the founder of the Wotesawa Domestic Workers Association in Tanzania. Benedicto visited the United States as a guest of Colleagues International (now Global Ties International), a Department of State professional exchange program.

After learning how she founded an organization to rescue domestic workers from abusive employers, her bravery and passion left a lasting impression on the Explorers. When the Explorers’ trip to South Africa was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sonya Hollins, founder of the Explorers, connected with Benedicto for a virtual sisterhood opportunity.

What happened led to an international fundraising opportunity. The girls of Tanzania used their skills as seamstresses to create items selected by the Explorers. The Explorers used their skills in media to create an online auction to sell the beautifully hand-crafted items with goods and services from local vendors. The result was $4,000 in funds raised for the girls to share for educational scholarships!

Girls Can, Together

Learn more at https://www.merzetate.org

Brittany Wright poses with a skirt made from the girls in Tanzania in a photo shoot to create a virtual auction of created goods and items from Kalamazoo retailers.

Photo by Sierra Ward

Sierra Ward takes photos of Explorers for a photo shoot after girls in Tanzania create and send a diverse selection of beautifully made purses, aprons, shirts, and more!

The girls of Wotesawa Domestic Workers Organization are pictured creating the items and posed wih Wotesawa founder Angela Benedicto.

Learn more at www.merzetate.org