01 June 2002

Web Watch #6
T-Shirt Travels - A documentary
by David Hands

Rwanda 1996. I was filming the refugees going home. The sight of hundreds of thousands walking on the narrow road was apocaliptic. Amongst the thousands I spotted a young boy. He had no shoes but he was wearing a very unique t-shirt. A t-shirt from my company and since I knew that my t-shirts were given to clients and friends I was very puzzled. I often wondered how my t-shirt got here in Africa. ITVS has answered my question with the new launce of the T-shirt Travels Website. 

T-SHIRT TRAVELS is an eye-opening documentary tracing how secondhand clothing donated as charity in the Western world lands in Zambia and how the communities that trade and resell these clothes are negatively impacted. T-SHIRT TRAVELS is airing on public television stations this June (check local listings at www.itvs.org/tshirttravels).

Website highlights include:
Track a T-Shirt
Track a T-shirt's journey around the globe. Follow the shirt from its origins at a local charity drop box in the New York City to an exporter's warehouse, and halfway across the world to a marketplace in a remote African village.

The Film
Read an interview with filmmaker Shantha Bloemen and learn how she got involved in this project, her experiences in Zambia, her views on secondhand clothing and the current debt problem in Zambia. Read film crew bios. 

The People
Watch video clips and read text of key figures including local Zambian businessmen, villagers and globalization experts. Listen to their views on the free market, Zambia's debt and the high poverty rate.

Impact of Debt
Learn the economic history of Zambia since its independence from Britain in 1964. Zambia turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to borrow money in 1973 when the price of copper plummeted. Find out why programs such as structural adjustment prescribed by international lenders have left Zambians more impoverished, sick and illiterate than before. 

Talkback
Share your thoughts on the program and join a discussion on the secondhand clothing industry in Africa, debt in Third World countries and donating clothes in the U.S. 

Resources
Get links to related information including websites, books and articles on the debt problem in developing countries, international aid in Africa, and charities that send used items directly to African aid organizations.