How Print Designs Are Created and Support Schools and Education in East Africa

Print Designs Created during School Lessons

Who does not know the story of the butterfly that raises a storm with flapping its wings? The flap of Kipepeo (butterfly in Kiswahili) occurred 2008 in a primary school in Tanzania sparked by girl’s drawing which was given to the assistant teacher Martin by 7-year-old Abigail. 

Martin printed this exact drawing on a T-shirt. What was first meant as a personal memory had a much bigger impact: Abigail's drawing became the cornerstone of a unique social enterprise that creates jobs in the textile industry on the east coast of Africa and supports school projects in Tanzania and Kenya. The designs that find their way on Kipepeo products are part of the regular school routine in primary schools in East Africa. For example, if the natural history lessons’ topic is the "Animals of the Serengeti", 4 to 14 year-old-children draw the animals of their homeland. Thus, small pencil drawings of elephants, giraffes or rhinos with the corresponding names in English and Swahili can be found in the children's schoolbooks. In this video, Goodluck gives you an insight into the origins of the print designs:

Kipepeo-Clothing has no influence on the creation of the drawings. Neither there are "desired designs" nor are drawings changed stylistically. The drawings are provided to Kipepeo-Clothing by teachers of the various schools via email or post once or twice a year.