Who is KitePride?
Upcycling
We repurpose damaged or worn out high-performance materials into products made with you in mind. Through the donation of sails, wetsuits, kites and other gear, KitePride creates all kinds of bags, computer casings, trendy products, and even Kippahs! These products are durable but lightweight with beautiful designs made with you in mind.
Not only do we revitalize material, but the KitePride employees are given a second chance at life and a new hope.
KitePride adds value to our employees, volunteers, products and most importantly You.
Here is a testimony of a donor from KitePride’s Youtube series; Back to the Beginning - For the all testimony videos Click Here
Adi Degani, Kitesurfer since 2010
“I love the idea of recycling my kites because you do with that [kite] something. You don't take it out to the trash, you give [an] opportunity to someone to work in recycle, [which is] very good to the environment. [Its] more than just a bag”
Natalie, Kite Surfer for 10 years
“Funny to think my kite, I don't know, somebody in Germany [is] wearing my kite. All my experiences, and all the places I surfed and everything I went through with it (the kite). The good and the bad is a [continued] part of me”
Disclaimer: These quotes were edited to fit a text format
Fashion Products
KitePride originated in Switzerland when a young female kite surfer used a broken kite in creating a completely new product! The organization of KitePride was born and it quickly took off. In 2016, KitePride was handed over to our social business A.I.R. Since then, we have continued to produce the items everyone loves while creating, designing new products, and continuing the ingenuity of KitePride’s origins.
Take a look at our uniquely designed and colorful products Here
Creating Jobs
We are a fashion social enterprise operating as a for-profit business.
KitePride’s social business creates jobs for women and men exiting the sex industry. There are approximately 14,000 men, and women trapped in forced labor in Israel where we are located. To combat this crisis, every bag sold at KitePride is designed and sewn by someone who has exited prostitution/human trafficking. As employees, they gain work experience and learn the importance of teamwork, reliability, and punctuality all the while, working through past traumas in a safe environment.
The employees at KitePride are hired at an hourly rate, in accordance with the individuals’ expertise and experience. Depending on their current health situation they work between four to eight hours a day, and so every employee has his own schedule fit to their situation.
By employing people exiting modern-day slavery, to upcycle material headed for landfills, KitePride creates a positive change we want to see in the world.
Get to know the KitePride family through the Employees Stories
Sponsor an Employee
Our vision is to eradicate modern-day slavery in an environmentally sustainable way
Our dream is seeing people being freed from forced labor and prostitution
Our goal is to restore lives and provide an opportunity for people to reach their full potential
Our social business is employing the marginalized and fostering a safe environment.
As a sponsor, you enable us to guarantee fair living wages and help our employees become independent, and valuable workers readying themselves for employment outside our safe work environment.
>>> Show your support in KitePride and join our "Sponsor an Employee" Program
Coaching
As a sponsor, I help in providing professional supervision such as; one on one coaching and legal counsel.
Education
Employees may lack formal education or the necessary work skills, and as a sponsor, I help in funding their education and expand on their trade skills and knowledge.
Food
At KitePride, hot lunch is provided daily for the entire team. Everyone eats together, fostering a sense of family as a therapeutic method for the employees because many of them lack such experiences. As a sponsor, I help in fostering this positive environment and continue providing food for employees.
Health
As a sponsor, I help cover unexpected health expenses which include but are not limited to; referrals for doctors, dentists, and counseling preventing medical bills from becoming overwhelming for the employees.
Become a Sponsor
With the support of our sponsors we can overcome past trauma and help our employees to become independent, whole and competent.
When you commit to sponsoring our care fund for at least one year ($30/month), you receive a unique KitePride bag with a personalised card from one of our employees.
USA - For tax exempt donations 501(c)(3) to Glowbalact for US Citizen please donate contact us.
You can be a huge part of the solution!
Stories That Inspire Us!
- Independence Joseph's Story Read how the Sponsorship Program helps our Employees to become independent.
- FREEDOM Saida's Story How your contribution makes a difference in a families life.
- Making a difference Our Sponsors Read why our current sponsors support this program and what inspired them to partner with us
- Prospect Mika's Story Read how the Sponsorship Program helps our Employees to regain a reason to keep going.
Joseph's Story
At KitePride, it is our heart’s purpose to give our workers the stability to feel safe, confident, and prepared enough to eventually leave us and venture out on their own into new dreams they have. We desire to help them completely move out of their old life and into a new successful one. Joseph’s story is one of where our purpose is being fulfilled and his. He came from a life of being forced to sell himself as a female from the age of 15 to 35. He has since then returned to life as a male and is no longer in the sex trade. Determined to make it on his own, he was on the brink of homelessness and hungry many times. After learning how to sew with an Israeli organization, he found that design was something he enjoyed and was good at. Since being under our work program, Joseph has grown so much in confidence and has grown stronger in his talents and abilities. So much so that he has now begun his journey towards his dream of starting his own small business & fashion label!
It is your help through our Sponsorship Program that will make it possible for us to enable him to meet this dream through mentoring and giving the supervision he needs to start his business. He will continue to work with us at KitePride 50% of his time while using the rest of his time to start up his own business to design clothes. He currently has already acquired a 50 sq meter location and is renovating it. Your support is so crucial to Joseph’s future goals and to so many others with us. To see someone come from a past so riddled with hopelessness and go into a future where they can be all they were destined to be is a joy that is more than words can express. Sign up here to sponsor Joseph and other KitePride employees today!
Saida's Story
At KitePride, it is our heart’s purpose to give our workers the stability to feel safe, confident, and prepared enough to eventually leave us and venture out on their own into new dreams they have. We desire to help them completely move out of their old life and into a new successful one. It is also our great hope that they find a family with us that they have never experienced and they feel included in a caring community that loves and appreciates them. Saida’s* story is one of where our purpose is being fulfilled.
Saida* felt rejection from a very early age. When her mother was pregnant with her, her dad made it known that if she did not have a boy, he would leave her. He did not want another girl and would marry someone else who could give him a son. He kept that promise. At an early age she had to work to help raise her siblings, including putting her brother through school, and was declined the opportunity to pursue her dreams. As a young Palestinian woman she was a product of an abusive arranged marriage to an Israeli who turned out to be a drug addict.
In the past this would have granted Saida* Israeli citizenship as well. However, she only received temporary residency but never could complete the process to permanent residency or Israeli citizenship due to separation because of her husband’s violence and time in prison. After the couple got together again the law changed. Since 2003 Palestinians no longer receive Israeli citizenship even if they are married to Israelis.
The case has been referred to the Humanitarian committee reviewing this unusual situation to make a decision. We are asking that she be granted the A-5 visa, which she did have in the past, because it will at least give her an Israeli ID and social and medical benefits in Israel.
Coming to KitePride has changed her life in many ways. Thanks to our unique legal entity we have been able to offer her far more than just a job. She is able to learn how it is to be loved unconditionally without the overwhelming feeling of rejection. Saida* says that kitepride is the first place she has ever felt like she was included, needed, and wanted. She also says that she has a family now that she knows she can depend on and who will always treat her with love, dignity, and compassion. At KitePride she feels like she has a home. Finally. Your support has allowed this to happen and your sponsorship of her will help us to pay for her legal case and court costs and will allow her to continue to be able to stay in Israel with us, her family, which will help her to eventually transition into a new life of freedom, wholeness, and independence.
Her story is just one of many where the help of generous and empathetic people has changed the life of someone forever for the better. To see someone come from a past so riddled with hopelessness and go into a future where they can be all they were destined to be is a joy that is more than words can express. You can be a part of that joy.
Thank you
*name changed
Our Sponsors
«I'm happy to be involved with KitePride and the work they are doing with human trafficking. I think more people would be involved with these issues if they just knew what to do and were confident the organization they were supporting was being responsible with the funds they're getting. After talking with Matt several times, I'm convinced that Glowbalact and KitePride are effectively helping these folks out of prostitution and giving them the chance to be the people God made them to be. Good job guys!!» B.N
«I never knew the world of human trafficking and the fate of its victims until I attended a talk a few years ago where I heard a speaker talk about the atrocities of such an industry. The notion of human trafficking and the fact that it exists in the 21st century was devastating and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Since then, I have become an active volunteer with Glowbalact in order to make an impact in the lives of those involved in the sex trade industry.
Now, being a mum, it is harder to be actively involved due to time restrictions. However, in order to feel as though am still making a difference and impacting the lives of those less fortunate, I have decided to become a sponsor.
I believe that through every donation, it helps support a person re-enter the workforce.» Melissa Lischer
"Je me suis décidée rapidement pour le parrainage car c'est une manière simple, rapide et concrète d'aider dans la lutte contre le trafique humain. Je me suis décidée à parrainer ce projet car je peux me sentir proche des femmes et de leurs besoins tout en restant chez moi. Je veux montrer à ces femmes qu'elle ne sont pas seules et que d'autres personnes dans le monde pensent à elles, croient en elles, et apprécient leur travail!" C. O.
Mika's Story
Born and raised in Lod, I am the middle child of 7 brothers. As far as I can remember, my parents were always fighting and arguing. My father had a militant personality and nothing and no-one was ever good enough. He was always screaming and lashing out at us. As you can imagine, home was not a pleasant environment. School was my safe place and I excelled however, at the age of 14, I left. My father wanted me to work and
earn my keep. As much money as I would bring home, it was never enough and the berating was constant. I couldn’t take it any longer. At the age of 16, I left home.
Fast forward a few years, I got into a relationship which would dictate the next few years of my life. This man, the man whom I thought I loved brought me into the world of prostitution. Everyday was torture. Every cent I earned, he took for himself. I was penniless and hopeless. After a while, I got the courage to take some money for myself, hiding it in a safe place. I would send this money home to my mother so she could buy herself the things my father never bought her. It was like this for 2 years until I met my first husband at 18.
I then left the world of prostitution, however it wasn’t better. This man, my husband, would beat and torture me. One day, I woke up in hospital as he had stabbed me in the stomach after suspecting me of cheating.
At the age of 21, I remarried a nurse – the sweet Lebanese nurse who helped me whilst I was in hospital. We married civilly just after Operation Peace of the Galilee, however, shortly after my world once again crumbled. My newly proclaimed husband was sent back to Lebanon where he was imprisoned for treason.
At the age of 23 I realized I had nothing to my name and was being exploited by everyone. I wanted to take my life into my own hands. I went back to what I knew – working at the notorious Tel Baruch as a street prostitute. I slowly gained ‘power’ and made a name for myself. I was earning a lot of money and managed to buy an apartment in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately though, I lost this apartment due to bad decisions and being taken advantage of…once again. At this point, work was scarce and I found myself living in the central bus station. A year ago, I was violently beaten by a client resulting in broken ribs, a fractured skull and facial damage. Until this point, I had never used drugs and had a clean record with the police. However, I turned to drugs. I needed drugs to help with my growing anxiety and lack of sleep. I lost a lot of weight and my situation worsened. I was still sane enough to realize I needed help.
I am now receiving mental health rehabilitation and enrolled in a job training course operated by GlowbalAct. GlowbalAct has given me real hope. I am not made to feel worthless and looked down upon. I feel as though I am in a safe environment with people who really care, love and believe in
me. For the first time in my life, I have the drive to go forward. Within the last month, I have gained 7kg which has amazed all doctors. Every day at GlowbalAct we eat a homemade nutritious meal together – as a family. GlowbalAct has also connected me to a social bank where I have been able to settle most of my debt and for the first time in my life, I feel as though there is a bright future waiting for me. Through the connection made by GlowbalAct, I will soon be living in a public house and no longer sleeping in the central bus station. Since I have been at GlowbalAct, I have never once thought of going back to the world of prostitution. That world is behind me. Every day I wake up energized and excited to finally start my new life with the prospect of a dignified job in sight.
