Animby says:

Assuming these idiots plan to actually spend good money packing and shipping these things to some agency in Haiti, what is that agency going to do with a couple hundred dirty, smelly yoga mats? The labor involved in cleaning them will cost resources in cleansers and water and personnel they probably do not have. As Prez Bush said: “Just send money.”

I’m reminded of some work I did in Angola 20+ years ago. Some charity sent containerloads of used clothing to these poor “nigra” people. They had not even had the courtesy to launder many of the clothes before shipping. That container smelled pretty ripe when we opened it. We salvaged what could be saved and sent the single washing machine we had into overtime for a couple of weeks and distributed what we could.

My two favorites were the women (who happily lived topless or with a simple cloth slung over their shoulders) trying to figure out how to wear a bra while a baby was suckling
and the case of new, still wrapped in plastic tee shirts from the David Duke for President campaign. (Any of you who do not know who Duke is, please google for some irony.)

I’d say the majority of the items sent were finally used as cleaning cloths or iPads … err, menstrual pads. Those were some expensive napkins!

On the other hand, we received a couple of containers of brand new clothes from the manufacturers. I remember one full of brand name jeans (I think they were Lee brand but my memory is fuzzy). They were irregulars but still quality and very popular with the local denizens. No matter the size, they were wanted by someone.

I wish I had my photos with me, I’d love to show you a picture I have of a little old village chief wearing his 40 inch jeans on his 25 inch waist with a jungle vine belt holding them up and the cuffs rolled and rolled and rolled so they seemed like denim puffballs around his ankles. This whole ensemble topped off with a David Duke tee shirt and a grin a mile wide…