Whitney Port and Saran Kaba Jones began like many successful modern day love stories. “To be perfectly honest we met online. It sounds like a funny dating story,” Port tells Tonic of her introduction to FACE Africa. “She had reached out to me. Being a young fashion designer, they were looking for someone to design a product that the women [in Liberia] could make there.”
The reality TV star and fashion designer had been longing to direct her philanthropic attention on Africa, so when she met FACE Africa’s founder and the two hit it off, she figured Liberia was the perfect place to focus her efforts. Soon after their initial meeting, Port, her sister and their father (above) took a trip to Liberia on something of a whim. Jones’ father is land commissioner there, so they were able to enjoy a well-planned, weeklong trip. A connection with the people and firsthand experience of the poverty she witnessed sprung Port to action. She tells Tonic, “I needed to do something. I needed to devote part of me to something other than benefiting my own company.”
Today, to help raise money to build more hand-pump wells, Ports is working on a T-shirt and tote bag made specifically for FACE Africa. The idea is that the women of Liberia will make these products at home, sell them abroad and ultimately become self-supporting.
“The situation is that there’s absolutely no running water there. What people are getting is dirty water from these wells that were there before, but who knows what’s in there,” explains Port. “We visited this orphanage and there was a skeleton at the bottom of their well.” But now, through FACE Africa’s well-building initiatives, more citizens of Liberia can can bathe, eat and drink safely — a simple human right that has become a luxury to few.
After a brutal period of civil war that began in 1989 and lasted almost 15 years, the country’s infrastructure was left in shambles. An estimated 75 percent of residents don’t have access to clean drinking water, and just 15 percent have access to human waste disposal facilities. Diarrhea kills more children than AIDS and malaria combined.
“A lot of people say, ‘Why aren’t you focusing on your own country?’ But it’s like, we’re all human and at the same time, the level of help that they need is beyond comparison. The poorest of poor in our country cannot even compare to what their situation is.”
Interestingly, Liberia is closer to home than you may think. Founded by freed American slaves in the 1820s, the western African nation was dubbed “Little America.” Its capital city, Monrovia, is named for our fifth president, James Monroe. And, although today Liberia looks nothing like the United States, something tells us that Whitney Port is going to help change that — and at the very least, make clean water a reality.
Please spread the word about our campaign to raise $5,000 for a well and hand pump in a desperately poor community in Liberia. Donate now.
UPDATE: We successfully completed this campaign and are no longer taking donations. Please check out Tonic’s latest campaigns here.
Photos courtesy FACE Africa.