Backpacking Africa the KOSHER Way (Mostly)

Hi!! I’m Tamar, an architecture student and olah from L.A. I always wanted to travel to Africa, and when I finally did, though the poverty was heartbreaking, I fell in love.  As a religious Jew I had many challenges but also opportunities for good PR for the Jewish people. My blog posts will be stories about our struggles, triumphs, and hilarious encounters across the continent.

After my first 6 week backpacking journey across East and South Africa, I came back with a boatload of crazy stories and a business idea: Victoria falls, Zimbabwe, is overflowing with beautiful and professional crafts. Because of the rampant poverty and lack of employment in Zimbabwe, the artists are desperate to sell- even to barter for the price of the shirt off your back or the shoes off your feet. My site, barter-z.org, is a custom online african crafts store, where you order directly from the artists village. The company is unique in the field of African art because you are ordering directly from the supplier, and therefore you can customize your unique craft and the money goes straight to the needs of the village and you can watch them grow on their blog.

As a Jew, I was raised with a desire to do tikkun olam. As an Israeli, I was infused with an entrepreneurial need to innovate (yes, I feel Israeli after 7 years here). As an immigrant, you have a proclivity to take risks in order to succeed. I grabbed the opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone. Our social business provides the villagers of Ko-Swazi with a steady income and brings income and great PR to Israel.

Watch our video! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/barter-zimbabwe-crafts-straight-from-the-village/x/4467155