This movie called T-shirt Travels was an extremely good film and was very educational. The film talked about how our old t-shirts that we donate end up being sold to Africa. Some of the things I will explain are what Zambians think of Americans, how all of the cloths deal with big money, and how the people of Zambia are doing in the present day. There are interesting ways that the Zambians think of us Americans.
Lets start by saying that Zambians have mixed opinions about Americans. Businesses usually think that Americans only talk money, even if that is partly true we don't all talk about money(only the adults & rich kids talk about money). Other people think of the US as a good place because they just don't know any better. I am not saying that the US is a bad country but some situations here we would rather be elsewhere because we Americans think we live in a utopia and are the best in the world at everything, but most of the rest of the world knows that is not true.
You may be wondering how lots of money ties into all of these common t-shirts. Well lets start by explaining the process of how they get to Africa. First we donate our old clothes to charities who then sell most of the donations to private businesses who mark them up by about 600% then sell the marked up clothes to Zambian shopkeepers who sell them to the Zambian public. Secondhand clothes are the number one from the US to Africa. In this process the private businesses make the most money. The reason that Zambia does not make its own clothes is because the rest of the world gives them cloths so it drove the local clothing stores out of business.
We now come to how the people of Zambia are doing in the present day. The truth is that over 70,000 children are homeless and the life expectancy there is only 43 years old. These things prove how bad conditions are there. The main character in this movie named Luka feels grateful because he picks the clothes with pride and looks in each bundle to see the quality of the clothes. Some experts are worried that if Zambia ever recovers from debt that almost all of the work force will be uneducated because the schools are only for the rich now a days.
That is the all of the things that one t-shirt goes through from when it is donated to when someone in Africa buys it and wears it. As you have seen the conditions in Zambia are not good. The private owners make the most money in the secondhand clothes business. Also what the Zambians think of us Americans. In conclusion this movie was a very educational and interesting movie called T-shirt Travels.
