One man's trash, another man's treasure...

Explore the things you feel you do not want. Give away things you don't need, not everything needs to be trashed.

This is what I've learned over the years: one man's trash is another man's treasure. It is no surprise when we look at current world trends. Vintage is the "new" thing, everyone is rocking it now. And if you really think about it, someone must have given up their personal clothing believing that it was "trash" (outdated perhaps) and others are now enjoying these treasures.

We see this trend in many parts of the world. If you walk into charitable shops you can pretty much buy anything from a fur coat to silverware. Whether it's vintage or not, but it's definitely second hand.

On the flip side of it, it's clear that clothing is a huge consumer item and makes a significant environmental footprint. So, it's important to take measures to keep the environment in mind!. 

So, why not donate old clothing as a way to keep yourself eco-fashionable?

With this in mind and growing up having to clear my closet every summer, I naturally fell in love with the Charity Distribution organized by the Zanzibar Outreach Program (ZOP). A few months ago, I decided to then create an event under Grassroots Charity Collection, to encourage the local community to purge and donate their unwanted items to us. Grassroots Traveller then donates on their behalf to ZOP. The response has been overwhelming!

The charity wing of ZOP operates as both a distributor of donated charity items and in partnership with other NGOs around the archipelago. Charity donations are collected from many parts of the world including Oman, Dubai, the UK and Denmark, as well as locally in Zanzibar.

Several times a year, ZOP organizes charity distributions to different parts of the archipelago. People from all walks volunteer their time to help sort out the donations and later distribute door-to-door to people in need.

Grassroots Traveller joined the recent charity distribution which took place on 20th July 2013 in Kandwi, a village in the North East part of Unguja - main island of Zanzibar.

What a day it was...! Walking in the heat whilst carrying sacks of clothes, we were divided into groups with a team leader - we managed to cover 2 villages.

We finished the day feeling very grateful, had made new friends & certainly counting our blessings.

TIPS ON WHAT TO DONATE:

Set aside a few hours and make sure you're motivated because you're going to make some important (and difficult!) decisions.

A good philosophy is to follow the one-year rule: anything you haven't worn in a year should be tossed, donated or placed in storage as a potential hand-me-down.