Several children in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya can be seen sporting around in Copper Basin and Fannin County athletic attire.
North Georgia Sports Zone (NGSZ) in Blue Ridge sent three large boxes of “boo-boo” shirts with Pastor and Missionary Dan Gilchrist to take to the country during a mission trip in February, NGSZ Owner Tim Smith said.
“Boo-boo shirts” are those that were messed up in some shape or fashion that cannot be sold.
Gilchrist is a long-time friend of Smith’s, the two noted, and Smith said, “he (Gilchrist) came by to visit us one day, and we just asked him if he would be interested in taking some of those (boo-boo shirts) to Kenya.”
Gilchrist is part of a mission agency called Equipping Leaders International Inc.
“We’re a mission agency of Christian leaders that come alongside Christian leaders around the world and train them for their various positions,” he said.
He recalled meeting another pastor, a Kenyan native Douglas Gitonga, who’s wife, Carol, works for Zoe Empowers, a non-profit organization.
The organization provides vocational training in East Africa, providing a diploma upon graduation, and all the tools needed to kick-start their own business.
The shirts provided a sense of “creativity and ownership” to those gifted, according to Gilchrist.
“They didn’t care if there was a misspelled word or not,” Smith said. “It was just a new shirt to them.
“First thing they done was put them on and start playing soccer ... They just thought it was the greatest thing that’d ever happened to them, somebody sending them shirts like that and good, dry-fit shirts,” Smith said.
This area in Africa is impoverished and disrespected, Gilchrist said and is currently one of the places threatened by locusts. To much dismay, many of it’s citizens are farmers.
Of the impact the locusts are making, he added, “Many (farmers) are watching them (crops) literally be eaten in front of their eyes.”
While there, he noticed that locals were very content and happy with their lifestyles, and for him, it was “very sobering.”
He noted that his visit included much singing, dancing and eating. “It’s not an extravagant spread, but it is a happy spread.”
Explaining more on his trip, Gilchrist added that “there is a very keen sense of awareness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings clarity and order to the mind and to the heart and to the life, and so that’s what they’re discovering, and that’s what we’re celebrating when we’re together.”
NGSZ is already keeping boo-boo shirts to send on the next trip.