The t-shirts in Angola

There is definitely no shortage of style in Angola. One unexpected fashion-related feature of this country is that the most random t-shirts find their way here. Apparently that load of clothes you took to Goodwill that didn’t get bought locally winds up on a container to Africa, where they have another chance at life. The fact that many locals here don’t read English leads to some comical results. Unfortunately getting photos of these t-shirts is kind of hard, since they’re usually spotted while driving quickly through town. I promise to try harder.

I imagine this to be an ongoing theme during my time here, but here are my top 3 so far:

#3: Red and white jacket with “ZEBRAS” printed on it
I went to a high school where the mascot was a zebra, and our team colors were red and white (a topic for another blog entry). What’s more, the font and style of the jacket look exactly like ones I used to see all the time growing up. What are the chances some other school in some parallel universe is represented by a red-and-white zebra? Pretty slim, so the fan base for Claremore High School is a little bigger than may have been previously thought.

#2 “West Salem Cheerleading”
At first glance this isn’t so weird, except that the decidedly girly pattern on the back was worn by a tough-looking young man on a motorcycle. If he only knew…

#1 “My Other Ride Is Your Mom”
This one was spotted on a 9 year-old boy (I’m guessing the age) at a gas station in Huambo – the one across the street from a tall green buildling in the central part of the city that has yet to be renovated. I give the details in case anyone happens to run across this one again because unfortunately my attempts to take photos failed. The slogan was in big black letters on the back of a bright red t-shirt. Reward offered for anyone who can track this shirt down.