Your 10 bob matters! Join Imperial Leather and Rotary Club to make a difference

PZ Cussons East Africa Managing Director Sekar Ramamoorthy right, signing the working agreement with Rotary District Governor Patrick Obath during the launch of Caring for Kenya Initiative. [Samson Wire, Standard]

When I first came to Nairobi, I remember seeing storied houses and asking whether we had arrived. From my story books, I knew Nairobi was filled with tall buildings, more cars than one could count and just as many people. Thinking about it now, we must have been around Githurai and not the city as I had imagined. I had come to visit a family friend who lived in the city, during the school holidays. Nairobi lived to my expectations, of the tall buildings cars and people. However, it had more in store for this little girl, fresh from the rural areas of Kenya where there was only one car in the small town.

One memory, that has stuck with me throughout the years is the first time I had to take a bath. I remember asking whether there was warm water in the kitchen for bathing and the host, our family friend just smiled and ushered me to the bathroom, opened two taps and warm water came out. Look, I was familiar with a shower but the options of hot and cold water, that just blew my mind. That aside, the soap I remember had this black and gold label, that no matter how much I applied on my face towel, still stuck to the soap. I remembered that It also smelled so heavenly, I must have spent half the time just inhaling that unforgettable scent that lingered on my skin long after the shower. I read the label “Imperial Leather” and made a mental note to ask my Mum to buy it once I went back home. That was the beginning of my love affair with Imperial Leather, one that I have carried on to date and one that I hope to pass down to my children.

I am glad the brand hasn’t changed much from what I used to know as a child. Their consistency has made me a lifelong customer and to top it all up, I have come to recently discovered that they are a socially conscious organisation. PZ Cussons, the company behind Imperial leather, in partnership with the Rotary club has just launched an initiative dubbed Caring For Kenya. This initiative will go to help less privileged communities improve water and sanitation facilities hence reduce the spread of water borne diseases.  It is interesting to note that water and sanitation diseases are the leading cause of death for children under the age of five in Kenya and that about 9.4 million Kenyans drink from contaminated water sources.

Under this initiative, the company will donate Sh10 for every Imperial leather soap bought whether in shops, supermarkets or on the official PZ Cussons online store on Jumia. The soaps whose revenue will go towards the initiative will be indicated on the packaging. This comes at an opportune time because I have been on the lookout for chances to help out the less privileged in society during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this initiative, the next time I do my monthly shopping, I will grab a couple of extra soaps because I know my 10 bob will make a difference. I know that even though I am not able to fork out Sh100,000, the little I have, my ten shillings, what you have your ten shillings and what other Imperial Leather consumers have will come together help promote good hygiene and contain diseases in these communities. My 10 bob maters!

When you get your soap, take a photo, share it on your social media pages using #CaringForKenya and inspire someone else to be part of this noble movement. In the words of Mother Theresa “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

The campaign is set to kick off in Baba Dogo area in Nairobi before spreading to other low-income areas.