{"id":271,"date":"2018-03-17T20:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T00:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/secondhand\/?page_id=271"},"modified":"2018-04-22T15:37:28","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T19:37:28","slug":"chapter-5-tanzanian-consumers-resllers-scared","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/secondhand\/chapter-5-tanzanian-consumers-resllers-scared\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 6: Tanzanian consumers and resellers fear loss of used clothes"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span> he EAC\u2019s crackdown on second-hand clothing poses a threat to <\/span>thousands<\/span><\/a> of East Africans who earn their living importing as wholesalers or the men and women in Arusha\u2019s central market selling used-clothes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Edward* operates a small used clothing shop in Arusha and relies on the income to support his parents who are subsistence farmers. He buys brand name used clothes from the women in Arusha\u2019s Central market and sells them for a higher price in his own shop, aimed at middle-class Tanzanians. The Tanzanian government\u2019s move to phase-out second-hand clothing has him worried about his future and how he will support his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people depend on work in the second-hand clothing market,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to stop work on this, I don\u2019t know what those millions of people in the second-hand market are going to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second-hand clothing business in Tanzania provides an opportunity for employment to uneducated and low-skilled people. Edward employs a 25-year-old man by the name of Charles Robert to work in his shop. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Robert has no formal education and relies on his job at the second-hand clothing shop to support himself. (Megan McPhaden)<\/p><\/div>\n

I<\/span>n 2016, he started working for Edward as his shop keeper. Robert\u2019s parents were unable to send him to school due to lack of finances and as a result his opportunities apart from farming, are limited as a result of his limited education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edward says he won\u2019t be able to employ Robert if the government follows through with their plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow we pray to God the government stops to think about this situation because it would be hard for us, because we rely on these things,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n