Clothes In My Case for Lagos
Donation protected
My name is Mary Negron and I am a Nail Artist, Photographer and International Beauty Educator that began my international travels in Lagos, Nigeria in November of 2015.
My life instantly changed.
A little back history about me!!
I was taveling and educating in the U.S. only back in 2015, when I was contacted via email by a young African-American Entreprenur living in Lagos, Nigeria. She was requesting that I travel to Lagos to train her staff of employees at her newly opend nail salon. After a lot of prayer, emailing back and forth and a few FaceTime calls, I agreed and made my way to AFRICA!!
(Mira, Ethel, ME, Diana & Abba @ Scratch!!)
They had NEVER done nails before, and I only had 2 WEEKS to get them trained.
(Madame Crystal and her Staff of Five that I trained at Scratch Nail Art Bar in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.)
Needless to say, I accomplished the impossible!
(Abba's first 5k as a nail tech!!)
I FELL IN LOVE with the city of Lagos instantly, and over the last year, I have been fortunate enough to travel the country of NIGERIA and have spent my own money to return as often as I can, (8 times in 2016 alone) to spread my love of the beauty industry and educate anyone that wants to learn, as there aren't any beauty schools around to speak of, or licensure that is even necessary.
(Classroom setup in Abuja, Nigeria in June, 2016, one of my many trips to Nigeria that year.)
(Tshirts I gave away to a lucky student during my class!!)
With that being said, I have met MANY AMAZING people during my travels, one being a young, ambitious designer named Toochi Ugola of Colours of Venus.
(Toochi and I)
His designs are impeccable and I love his drive. I wanted to do anything I could to help him reach his goals.
I mentioned to him that I was a photographer and I would love to photograph his clothing for free and share his lovely designs on my Instagram for my over 27K followers to see. He was more than happy to accept my gesture and we planned our shoot.
I showed up at the location he had chosen that happened to be at the "Obalende Police Barracks" in Lagos. I'm not sure what I expected, but I have learned not to expect anything while traveling in Africa. When I arrived, I was surrounded by dilapidated 3-4 story buildings. Clothes lines stretched from house to house, clothing drying in the hot African Sun. Views of abandoned, burnt out vehicles, piles of trash, mothers cooking corn on open fires plates with their infants strapped to their backs.
(We created the most amazing images, despite the surroundings. I loved the contrast of the garbage around the beautiful girl...)
(Our location in MacArthur Barracks where the children live. This is a view of the back of the apartments. This location was PERFECT!!)
(My handsome Nigerian assistants on location, right in front of where these children live.)
(A view of MacArthur Barracks in Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria)
(A young Nigerian girl fetching water in Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria.)
These homes are provided to the Police Officers and their families, however the standard of living is nothing compared to the luxuries we are afforded here in the USA, yet EVERYONE was smiling, living, and so happy to see me there. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the show. I felt so welcome...
We began our shoot outside and the images were coming out perfectly, when I noticed a small group of little children, watching me and eyeing my every move.
The moment I noticed them, I called them to me. I asked them if they wanted to be in my pictures! These children ranged from 5 years old to 10 and they were the sweetest, most adorable children I have ever seen.
(Say hello!!!)
(The Guys POSING!!)
(They thought it was a PHOTO!! LOL!!)
(The girls posing!!)
(Taking pics and posing with the kids!!)
(What's YOUR name??)
("I want to be a Banker!!" "I want to be a Police Man!!", Aren't they TOO SWEET!! Ooooooo To be a child again...)
(My nails are always a conversation peice!!)
(My TATTOOS got lots of questions!!)
After taking a MILLION pictures and videos with these lively kids, I decided to post a few videos of us together to my Instagram. (you can follow my travels to Nigeria on my personal page, @IAmMaryNegron )
After The Shoot...
I was shocked when I began to get DM's from people wanting to donate clothing, shoes and other necessities to the kids!! My heart swelled with joy as the requests kept coming in!
One of my followers named Tiffany who has a salon here in my city of Augusta, Ga. decided to start collecting donations at her salon from her customers.
She messaged me to find out when I was going back, and that she had some clothes to bring to me for the kids. I had no idea she was going to bring me enough clothes to fill a SUITCASE!!! Without even knowing these children's sizes, ages, names or even meeting them, she had gathered more clothes than I personally can afford to carry.
(This suitcase is almost full of donated boys and girls clothing)
She inspired me to see if I can follow her lead and use my platform and blessings to see how much we can help the children of Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria, even AFRICA as a whole!!
Let's start with JUST ONE SUITCASE!!
What will I do with the funds?
The clothing that has been donated fills up a MEDIUM sized suitcase. I would like to FILL a LARGE suitcase (Max 50 lbs) with clothes, shoes and necessities for boys and girls, from infant to teenage. My goal is to raise 500$ to purchase MORE clothing to fill a large bag and pay the additional fees to transport the donations to Lagos.
The airlines only allow 2 suitcases for free and a carry on. The fee for an additional bag is 50$ per bag. Due to my long stays in Lagos, and having to transport my own clothing and work tools for my trainings, I rarely have any room in my suitcase for extra things.
I am traveling to Lagos on May, 13th 2017 for 10 days. I can purchase the extra bag fees at the airport, however I'd like to prepay for them online to lower the chances of getting stuck in line, so I will close out this fundraiser on the 10th of May. All receipts will be available upon request for purchases made.
Who will benifit from your donations?
I want to donate the clothes to the children of Obalende Police Barracks, in the photos as requested by the donors, as well as as local orphanages. The children in the orphanages have nothing and I couldn't just stop with the children of Obalende.
Your clothing donation will go directly into the hands of a child that can fit them! The economy of Nigeria is in desperate need of all the help it can get and nearly everyone could use a helping hand. The orphanages in Nigeria run soley on donations. Your donation would make a world of difference to a child in need.
In Lagos, schooling is not free for children. Parents have to work hard just to be able to send thier child to a decent school. Your donation would remove the stress of putting clothes on a child for a parent that is, by average, struggling to make ends meet. We here in the USA are very fortunate to not have to pay school fees. Imagine if we did?
I plan to document this entire experience of giving so that everyone can see the joy of these kids and how happy and grateful they are!!
We don't just stop our love of giving at Obalende, as we are always looking for opportunities to give to those in need. We hope that we can raise enough money to get these clothes to the children without having to come out of my own pocket, as traveling internationally is so EXPENSIVE! Thank you SO much for reading my story and we appreciate ANYTHING you can do to help!
UPDATE:
My life instantly changed.
A little back history about me!!
I was taveling and educating in the U.S. only back in 2015, when I was contacted via email by a young African-American Entreprenur living in Lagos, Nigeria. She was requesting that I travel to Lagos to train her staff of employees at her newly opend nail salon. After a lot of prayer, emailing back and forth and a few FaceTime calls, I agreed and made my way to AFRICA!!
(Mira, Ethel, ME, Diana & Abba @ Scratch!!)They had NEVER done nails before, and I only had 2 WEEKS to get them trained.
(Madame Crystal and her Staff of Five that I trained at Scratch Nail Art Bar in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.)Needless to say, I accomplished the impossible!
(Abba's first 5k as a nail tech!!)I FELL IN LOVE with the city of Lagos instantly, and over the last year, I have been fortunate enough to travel the country of NIGERIA and have spent my own money to return as often as I can, (8 times in 2016 alone) to spread my love of the beauty industry and educate anyone that wants to learn, as there aren't any beauty schools around to speak of, or licensure that is even necessary.
(Classroom setup in Abuja, Nigeria in June, 2016, one of my many trips to Nigeria that year.)(Tshirts I gave away to a lucky student during my class!!)With that being said, I have met MANY AMAZING people during my travels, one being a young, ambitious designer named Toochi Ugola of Colours of Venus.
(Toochi and I)His designs are impeccable and I love his drive. I wanted to do anything I could to help him reach his goals.
I mentioned to him that I was a photographer and I would love to photograph his clothing for free and share his lovely designs on my Instagram for my over 27K followers to see. He was more than happy to accept my gesture and we planned our shoot.
I showed up at the location he had chosen that happened to be at the "Obalende Police Barracks" in Lagos. I'm not sure what I expected, but I have learned not to expect anything while traveling in Africa. When I arrived, I was surrounded by dilapidated 3-4 story buildings. Clothes lines stretched from house to house, clothing drying in the hot African Sun. Views of abandoned, burnt out vehicles, piles of trash, mothers cooking corn on open fires plates with their infants strapped to their backs.
(We created the most amazing images, despite the surroundings. I loved the contrast of the garbage around the beautiful girl...)
(Our location in MacArthur Barracks where the children live. This is a view of the back of the apartments. This location was PERFECT!!)
(My handsome Nigerian assistants on location, right in front of where these children live.)
(A view of MacArthur Barracks in Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria)
(A young Nigerian girl fetching water in Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria.)
These homes are provided to the Police Officers and their families, however the standard of living is nothing compared to the luxuries we are afforded here in the USA, yet EVERYONE was smiling, living, and so happy to see me there. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the show. I felt so welcome...
We began our shoot outside and the images were coming out perfectly, when I noticed a small group of little children, watching me and eyeing my every move.
The moment I noticed them, I called them to me. I asked them if they wanted to be in my pictures! These children ranged from 5 years old to 10 and they were the sweetest, most adorable children I have ever seen.
(Say hello!!!)
(The Guys POSING!!)(They thought it was a PHOTO!! LOL!!)
(The girls posing!!)(Taking pics and posing with the kids!!)
(What's YOUR name??)
("I want to be a Banker!!" "I want to be a Police Man!!", Aren't they TOO SWEET!! Ooooooo To be a child again...)
(My nails are always a conversation peice!!)
(My TATTOOS got lots of questions!!)
After taking a MILLION pictures and videos with these lively kids, I decided to post a few videos of us together to my Instagram. (you can follow my travels to Nigeria on my personal page, @IAmMaryNegron )
After The Shoot...
I was shocked when I began to get DM's from people wanting to donate clothing, shoes and other necessities to the kids!! My heart swelled with joy as the requests kept coming in!
One of my followers named Tiffany who has a salon here in my city of Augusta, Ga. decided to start collecting donations at her salon from her customers.
She messaged me to find out when I was going back, and that she had some clothes to bring to me for the kids. I had no idea she was going to bring me enough clothes to fill a SUITCASE!!! Without even knowing these children's sizes, ages, names or even meeting them, she had gathered more clothes than I personally can afford to carry.
(This suitcase is almost full of donated boys and girls clothing)She inspired me to see if I can follow her lead and use my platform and blessings to see how much we can help the children of Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria, even AFRICA as a whole!!
Let's start with JUST ONE SUITCASE!!
What will I do with the funds?
The clothing that has been donated fills up a MEDIUM sized suitcase. I would like to FILL a LARGE suitcase (Max 50 lbs) with clothes, shoes and necessities for boys and girls, from infant to teenage. My goal is to raise 500$ to purchase MORE clothing to fill a large bag and pay the additional fees to transport the donations to Lagos.
The airlines only allow 2 suitcases for free and a carry on. The fee for an additional bag is 50$ per bag. Due to my long stays in Lagos, and having to transport my own clothing and work tools for my trainings, I rarely have any room in my suitcase for extra things.
I am traveling to Lagos on May, 13th 2017 for 10 days. I can purchase the extra bag fees at the airport, however I'd like to prepay for them online to lower the chances of getting stuck in line, so I will close out this fundraiser on the 10th of May. All receipts will be available upon request for purchases made.
Who will benifit from your donations?
I want to donate the clothes to the children of Obalende Police Barracks, in the photos as requested by the donors, as well as as local orphanages. The children in the orphanages have nothing and I couldn't just stop with the children of Obalende.
Your clothing donation will go directly into the hands of a child that can fit them! The economy of Nigeria is in desperate need of all the help it can get and nearly everyone could use a helping hand. The orphanages in Nigeria run soley on donations. Your donation would make a world of difference to a child in need.
In Lagos, schooling is not free for children. Parents have to work hard just to be able to send thier child to a decent school. Your donation would remove the stress of putting clothes on a child for a parent that is, by average, struggling to make ends meet. We here in the USA are very fortunate to not have to pay school fees. Imagine if we did?
I plan to document this entire experience of giving so that everyone can see the joy of these kids and how happy and grateful they are!!
We don't just stop our love of giving at Obalende, as we are always looking for opportunities to give to those in need. We hope that we can raise enough money to get these clothes to the children without having to come out of my own pocket, as traveling internationally is so EXPENSIVE! Thank you SO much for reading my story and we appreciate ANYTHING you can do to help!
UPDATE:
Organizer
Mary Negron
Organizer
Augusta, GA