When me and my husband visited Tanzania to visit our friend Erik, he took us to a big second hand market outside of his town of residence, Moshi. The idea of second hand in Tanzania moved my curiosity.
According to our friend the clothes in the market come from organisations as a humanitarian aid. The question is how the clothes then get to be sold to the markets like this? Well, he didn’t know but I’m curious!
Is it part of the aid to give people opportunity to sell the clothes and have a sort of income? Or is it that part of the clothes turn up in wrong places as a result of corruption?
The sad thing is that the second hand clothing that is available nowadays has replaced the textile industry of the country, he said. They made African fabrics that now are made in like Bangladesh.
That doesn’t sound good to me at all! I really don’t think that transporting clothes so far away can be good for the environment. Of course in some situations aid in the form of concrete things like clothes, blankets and food is needed. Many of the organisations I shop second hand from sell the clothes they collect here and use the money for different projects. Or they give the opportunity for people in the area to get clothes for example if they are homeless. Shipping the clothes to other counties is very expensive and from what I know I haven’t seen that they do that.
Let me know if you know something on this topic!
// Lite reflektioner kirng den här second hand marknaden i Tanzania. Enligt vår vän är detta kläder som kommit som bistånd till landet. Dessvärre har de slagit ut den egna textilindustrin som främst var afrikanska tyger (med mönster).
Hur kommer kläderna ut på marknaden? Är det en del av korruption att kläderna hamnar i fel händer eller är det så att det är tanken att folk utan inkomster ska få möjlighet att tjäna pengar?
Vad jag känner till från second hand butiker i Sverige så verkar de flesta sälja kläderna här för att få pengar till olika projekt. Vissa organisationer ger möjlighet till tex hemlösa eller fattiga att få kläder via deras butiker. Att skicka stora mängder med kläder utomlands borde vara en tämligen dyr historia.
Jag är väldigt intresserad av detta ämne, om du vet mer kommentera gärna!
Sadness Theory 