Have you ever heard the quote, “Empowered people, empower people,”? It is simple, straight to the point, and so true. What is privilege if we don’t use it for good, right? You may remember that the latter part of our brand statement talks about mutually empowering relationships.

ABBY ALLEY is a people-first, planet-focused fashion brand offering you our exclusive, high-quality designs that are brought to life through long term, mutually empowering relationships with our artisan partners in East Africa.

We work with an organization in Tanzania called Pamoja Tunaweza, which means “together we can,” to make our Message Bracelets and Message Necklaces. I had the opportunity to visit Pamoja in 2018, and was able to meet founders, see programming in action, and hear about their goals for the future. Pamoja was born out of the desire to provide education and employment opportunities to the most vulnerable youth in their community. As the kids reach their later teenage years, they are taught the skill of jewelry making, which enables them to earn an income.

Here are the kids during one of their educational sessions:

Founded by two men who were once street kids themselves, I was totally impressed with all they have overcome and all they are doing for their community. It may be surprising (or maybe not) that Tanzanian streets are home to an estimated 437,500 kids. Street-connected youth can be described in two categories; those that are on the streets 'part-time' and those that are on the streets 'full-time'. Part-time street-connected youth have a home they can return to, however they spend their days on the streets trying to find a way to earn an income. Full-time street-connected youth eat, sleep, work and play on the streets; they have no safe home to return to. Pamoja’s Street Outreach Program works with both part- and full-time street-connected children and youth.

As with all of our products, Pamoja has been paid in full for the products, but we love what they are doing so much that we want to giveback a portion of the proceeds…and we thought you would too! Our donations will go directly to Pamoja’s Street Outreach Program where they need to buy shoes, food, educational materials, soccer balls, and more! The Outreach Program is what introduces kids to Pamoja, so it is crucial they can continue to grow their efforts.

Thank you for supporting our small business as well as theirs!