Spanish comfort footwear company El Naturalista has expanded its charitable Project Atauchi initiative to Africa. To kick off its presence in a new continent (previous Project Atauchi work has aided children in Peru), the company is collaborating with the nonprofit Amigos de Tanzania in Arusha, an area in the north of Tanzania, to build a library and build out the Baobab Children’s Home orphanage and caretaking center.
“El Naturalista is betting on education,” says Maria Paz Díaz de Rada, manager of the Atauchi Project. “We believe that education is the most efficient means for the men and women of Africa to make progress and to achieve a just and equalitarian society that promotes and defends fundamental rights.” Company head Pablo de la Peña has said the reason behind the Atauchi Project is to transform the brand’s words into action. Such initiatives have been embraced by his entire team, he notes. “It is the heart and soul of El Naturalista. Social responsibility helps us all to be better persons, and this is a benefit that is difficult to buy or pay with a salary.”
El Naturalista designates a share of the profits from every shoe sold to Project Atauchi. To date, it has donated approximately $218,000 to care for and educate Peruvian children. The company’s current project in Arequipa, Peru, is to build “The City of Hope,” a home for more than 100 disabled and abandoned children.