Reason #19 to Support Periclean Scholars: Chitenge Challenge

The Marine Corps Marathon is now exactly four months away. Since I began training in late February, I am currently halfway through training. I set up my blog and my fundraising page in early May, so I am now 1/3 of the way through my Periclean Scholars fundraising window.

I checked my total fundraising number today, and I am currently... 8% to my goal. I am thrilled about all of the support that has already been given to the PSAA, but I know we can collectively do better - and I am prepared to incentivize that.

Here is my challenge for the month of July: if I can reach $1500 (slightly under halfway to my goal) by July 31, I will wear a chitenge to work.

What is a chitenge, you may ask? A chitenge is the traditional women's clothing in Zambia. It is similar to a sarong in other cultures and can be worn around the waist, around the head, or in carrying a child.

A Zambian woman wearing the traditional dress, a chitenge

A Zambian woman wearing one chitenge around the waist and another to carry her child

One of the first things we did when we completed Habitat for Humanity orientation in Zambia was purchase chitenges for wear throughout our time in Zambia. It would be immodest for any of the women to wear any garment shorter than a long chitenge. (The men, of course, got to wear whatever they wanted.)

There are many, many options for chitenge design. However, when we saw the garment that the shopkeeper had selected for all of us, we just had to laugh:

The group learns how to put on chitenges in HFHZ Headquarters.

We wore matching red, white, and blue chitenges that screamed, "Yes, I am an American; yes, I am a muzungu."

Over the course of my time in Zambia, I did get one more chitenge (a red and orange design), but the chitenge I will wear if the chitenge challenge is successfully completed is the red, white, and blue one.

Since the chitenge is modest dress, I have no need to worry about the dress code at work. However, I can guarantee that nobody will have seen anything like my red, white, and blue chitenge in the office environment.

Here is the donation page link: http://active.com/donate/pericleanmcm2011 (You can always find it under the "Links" section of the blog.)

As always, I will write heartfelt donor acknowledgements for all of my donors. No donation is too small - they all count toward the grand total, and for the month of July, they get me closer to wearing a chitenge at work.

Thank you for your consideration of supporting Periclean Scholars - and of getting me to wear a chitenge in a federal office space!