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Amana, the London-based ethical clothing label, is launching a charity t-shirt next month called the Bwindi. A generous 100 per cent of the profits from the shirt will be donated to the Bwindi Community Health Centre in Uganda, which provides medical care to some of the poorest people in the world.
The centre is located on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which holds half of the entire world's population of Mountain Gorillas. Because of this, in 1991 the forest was made into a National Park to protect the animals. This was great news for the gorillas, but less so for the resident Batwa Pygmies, who were promptly relocated to the surrounding areas.
Since 2003, the centre has provided regular clinics for the Batwa in their two battered Land Rovers, and is now relied on by 40,000 others in the area. Malnutrition, malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diarrhoea are all common and life-threatening illnesses in the region.
The health centre currently receives numerous sources of funding, but donations from the t-shirt will specifically go towards buying a new ambulance. This should make travelling to clinics much easier, and save the centre money on the regular repairs that the current creaking vehicles need.
So far, so good, but what’s the t-shirt like? It’ll cost £30, and, like all Amana clothing, is made with organic cotton under fair-trade conditions in Morocco. The v-neck jersey is made with 10 per cent spandex to make sure it fits nicely, proving that supporting a good cause doesn’t mean having to wear a shapeless printed t-shirt.
"Our philosophy at Amana is to create clothes that marry beautiful design with ethical production practices. We work on a fair-trade basis with our artisans, developing long-term partnerships with them. We ensure good working conditions, make advance payments and provide technical assistance and training," says the Amana website.
You can pre-order them now, and they'll be available in November -- in plenty of time for Christmas.
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