Togo, Africa: Coconut Co-op
In April of this year, I was incredibly lucky to be chosen as one of nine Team Members from Whole Foods Market to attend the Team Member Volunteer program trip to Togo, Africa. This program sends employees to places around the world where micro lending with the goal to alleviate poverty occurs. The trip is taken with the intent of education as well as the execution of volunteer projects that benefit the communities we visit. The Whole Planet Foundation Team Member Volunteer trip to Togo started the moment we all met in the Airport. Our group quickly became friends. Our first day was spent at the Entrepreneurs de Monde office in Lome, the country's capital city. Here we learned the logistical processes of micro lending in Togo and first hand saw the impact a small loan given can be for some incredibly impoverished Togolese people. One young man refurbished furniture on a broken down porch with little shade in the heat from found and reclaimed materials. Anothe