The Obakki Foundation team has proven time and time again that they put their money where their promises are. The small Vancouver-based foundation, created and run by local fashion designer (Obakki), mother and wife, Treana Peake, contributes 100 per cent of all public donations to their humanitarian projects. The foundation has drilled or rehabilitated more than 850 wells in the war-torn country of South Sudan, bringing clean water to an estimated more than one million people. And they have just promised six remote villages in the country that the foundation will help them to build a better future by providing each village with a much needed fresh water well. All that Obakki Foundation needs to do this is to sell 500 of each of the new, stylish colours of scarves – as a part of their Scarves for Water program.
Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season, the foundation has launched six beautiful new scarf colours – DENIM (village: Denge), CLAY (village: Pulmalou), CHARCOAL (village: Aduer), HAZE (village: Adol Manyiel), CRIMSON (village: Kuju Cheni) and BASIN PRINT (village: Dhoor-Lei). Once 500 of the limited edition scarf colours are sold, a well will be drilled in the village. Each of these villages is in desperate need of clean water. The scarves are a lightweight modal blend (65% rayon/35% modal) with the dimensions of 130 x 130 cm, and they sell for $29 Cdn. They may be purchased at: https://obakkifoundation.org/campaign/scarves-water/.
Currently, the people of these villages, including children, are forced to drink unacceptable, dirty, disease-infested water, to walk for hours a day to fetch clean water or, if there is any access to a clean water source, share it with hundreds or thousands of other people from nearby villages, which often creates conflict and violence between tribes. Having Obakki Foundation drill wells in the villages will mean that not only will the men, women and children have clean water to drink for themselves and their farm animals (goats, chickens, etc.), but they will also be able to grow fresh fruit and vegetables, to help with their nutrition. It also means that they won’t have to leave their village for many hours each day in search of water, they can spend time improving life at their village, and their children can attend school rather than fetch water.
Since the Scarves for Water are limited editions, once 500 have been sold, each colour is considered “retired” and will never be produced again. (Obakki Foundation RED is the only ongoing scarf colour.) Those who buy a scarf can sign up for updates on the people of the specific village that their scarf helped to support. They also have the opportunity to send photos and video messages to the people of that village when Obakki Founder Treana Peake visits to check on the community’s progress. And the villagers send messages back to their own “scarf community.”
One hundred per cent of the net proceeds of each scarf goes towards drilling a well. In fact, the Obakki Foundation allocates 100 per cent of all public donations directly to its projects – an action that sets them apart in the world of charitable organizations.
About the Obakki Foundation
Treana Peake, founder of Obakki Designs (www.obakki.com) and the Obakki Foundation (www.obakkifoundation.org), has been involved in humanitarian ventures that make positive change in the world for more than two decades. Obakki Designs is a world-renowned, luxury fashion label offering classic and refined styles for the modern woman. Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Zooey Deschanel have all been photographed wearing Obakki.
To date, the Obakki Foundation has provided medical, educational and nutritional support to thousands of children living around the world, built numerous schools in remote regions of Africa where children don’t have access to education, provided emergency relief to hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons being relocated due to war and other circumstances, and drilled or rehabilitated more than 850 water wells in South Sudan – ensuring that an estimated one million people have access to clean water.
Obakki Designs absorbs all of the administrative fees, from business cards to travel expenses, so that 100 per cent of all public donations goes directly to the Obakki Foundation’s humanitarian projects. Whether you buy Obakki style designs, scarves or other products, or make a donation to the Foundation, you know your money is going directly to help people in urgent need.
