A few Saturdays ago, six of the juniors and seniors got together at the Cabrillo Farmer’s Market in Aptos to sell shirts and tote bags to support Philani Child Health and Nutrition Project. The shirts, which we designed ourselves, had “Ubuntu” (the name for our Africa project which roughly means “I am who I am because of who you are”) on the front, while the back showed an unfilled image of the earth with Africa showing. When we first got there no one stopped by. People would kind of pause and look at us, and then keep walking. We began to get very discouraged, but then little by little our piles of shirts began to shrink!

We are told that we can do anything if we put our minds to it. Well, we put our minds to it, were involved in every step of the process, and we sold enough shirts and bags to raise nearly $500. It was so rewarding and empowering to see our hard work really pay off.