Orphans in Kenya hold their new bars of H2H soap
We want to create a sense of pride through fair wages that benefits communities in the long-term, solving the underlying issue of poverty. We need to do more than just donate to the short-term sanitation symptom.
Orange, Calif. (PRWEB) May 14, 2015
Health 2 Humanity (H2H), the soap making startup that began one year ago in a Chapman University freshman dorm room, has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to expand its orphanage sponsorship across Africa. The company aims to sustainably address one of the most pressing hygiene issues in Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda amongst those countries’ 6.7 million orphaned children. But in a unique departure from the popular ‘buy one, give one’ model, H2H uses the profits of its made-in-California soap sales to not only donate bars, but directly train and fund unemployed African orphans to make and sell their own suds.
Health 2 Humanity is aiming to provide 140,000 soap bars to African orphans by creating dozens of jobs through micro programs in areas with the highest unemployment rates in the world. If its crowd-funding campaign is successful, H2H will more than double its presence in the countries it currently works in and expand into Rwanda and Uganda, after requests of assistance from orphanages in those countries.
“You could call it a ‘buy-one, give four and educate forever’ model,” said John Cefalu, H2H Co-founder and sophomore at Chapman University. “We want to create a sense of pride through fair wages that benefits communities in the long-term, solving the underlying issue of poverty. We need to do more than just donate to the short-term sanitation symptom..”
The funds raised through crowdfunding will allow the company to train recently graduated orphans now seeking employment on how to start sustainable small businesses. In partnership with 12 orphanages in four countries, those startups will continuously supply homemade, natural soap to children who currently have little or no hygiene products.
“Partnering with H2H allows us to save lives and create jobs here in our small communities – it’s a win-win,” said Hezron Maina Njeri, Health 2 Humanity’s Kenya Manager. “The assistance that H2H gives to teenage orphans who need jobs allows them to sell their soap to neighbors at less than half of the corporate manufacturers’ price and use the proceeds to continue providing soap for our orphanages. It prevents disease and boosts the economy at the same time.”
In the orphanages where it is currently operating, H2H has almost eliminated rashes and skin irritations and is helping to prevent some of the 1.4 million deaths worldwide attributed annually to unsanitary conditions. Over the past 12 months H2H has produced 8,000 bars of soap and established mini-factories with seven orphanages in Kenya and Ghana, providing employment training for 13 adult orphans in communities where unemployment rates can reach 40%. The company’s local sponsored soap-makers sell H2H products for 60% less than the market rate for other soaps, making clean living more affordable to people whose incomes average $1,000 per year.
H2H manufacturers its 5-ounce soap bars for the US market in Concord, California, in four scents: Blue Sage & Lemon, Lavender Vanilla, Citrus Breeze and Sea Mist. H2H soap is currently available for purchase at Montblue Resort & Spa, Gaia-Licious, Bio Spirit Spa, Top Drawer, Tahoe Landing and Grass Roots in Lake Tahoe, Calif., The Next in Reno, Nev., and Eikon Home in Orange, Calif., as well as at H2Hsoap.org. They are actively seeking more retail locations to continue expanding their work overseas. Learn more about the IndieGoGo campaign here or by searching Health 2 Humanity at IndieGoGo.com.
About Health 2 Humanity
Health 2 Humanity creates premium, natural soaps that directly address global health inequality. By promoting clean lifestyles and economic advancement in the developing world through sustainable vocational programs, H2H works toward creating a healthier, more hopeful future – one soap bar at a time. Visit us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or learn more at H2Hsoap.org.