Humans of Tropical Africa: III

Dear friends, 

Again, we are so excited to introduce three special humans from Tropical Africa to you: Mark Ritmeester, Junior Okorocha and Joshua Flores. We believe it is fair to say you are becoming true friends and it was a pleasure to meet you during the festivals lately - keep up the good work, let’s change the world together and let’s stay friends forever.

Mark Ritmeester

Mark Ritmeester is 23 years old and was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands. He became a true festival lover for just over a year now and last year he visited 16 festivals - respect! Now, he is taking it a bit easier since he will hopefully finish his studies Commercial Economics. But he couldn’t get his degree without some festivals in between, so he planned to visit Melt Festival in Germany, Drumcode and Into the Woods where he will definitely rock The Luanda, in which he also stole the show at Awakenings festival (see picture).

Besides festivals, he has a strong desire to travel as much as possible. When there is a opportunity, he catches a plane to new places. In 2017, Mark went backpacking in Thailand for 5 weeks, after which Indonesia was his destination during summer 2018. Last January, he explored New York and together with his brother he discovered Dubai last April.   

(@Markritmeester)

Countries that he would like to visit in the near future are Tanzania and South Africa. Mark's opinion about the brand: 

“Tropical Africa differs from other brands in having the specific goal to contribute to projects in Africa and to connect humans. During my backpack trips I bought many different eye-catching and colorful blouses. However, surprisingly, when I wear an outfit of Tropical Africa I get in touch with people that were totally unknown before, I really like that. I think that cheerful and outstanding colors bring people together and that is also one of the goals of Tropical Africa: bringing people together through clothing”.

Junior Okorocha

Junior, who can be described as a positive, powerful and energetic human, is a 23 year-old half Dutch and half Nigerian men. He was born in Amsterdam and has been living in The Hague now for a long time. His energy is one of the reasons he loves partying. While partying, he can loose and express his energy in a good and positive way. And he loves to dance all day long ofcourse :) 

Junior’s smile is contagious, which is notable in the picture below. He always brings a smile on the face of people around him. At Thuishaven, where he can be found regularly, he did the same with us - this time in The Kotu. We recently met Junior again at Summerpark Festival in Almere and it felt he was a friend of us for years.

(@Junioroko)

Junior inspired us with his feelings about Tropical Africa: ‘Tropical Africa brings and will always bring a good vibe. The love and passion in the brand is unreal, I really appreciate it. Furthermore, the festival outfits they offer are also really beautiful. The story behind it makes it even more special - such a powerful combination. I hope and know they continue to grow and become even bigger than they already are!’ 

Joshua Flores

Joshua currently studies Communication, International Events, Music and Entertainment. It is his ambition to become a pilot one day, and therefore start studying for getting his pilot’s license soon. 

During his first extraordinary encounter with Tropical Africa, Joshua was immediately in love with the festival clothing and the concept behind it. He purchased The Malabo for a pitch at school. The fit was excellent and the week after at Chin Chin Festival, he met some relatives of Tropical Africa. What a story!

This stunning moment was captured in Curaçao. Our festival outfits are increasingly being worn as summer outfits or on holidays, like our friend Joshua does here in Curaçao. It makes us realize we are already more than a festival clothing!

(@joshua_flor)

What I like about Tropical Africa? “Please take a look and experience how the brand brings people together, the smile it brings on faces and the happiness it gives. Not only for the buyers like me, but certainly also for the people who ultimately are supported in the projects that we help by purchasing the festival outfits! Yes, happiness is one of the most precious things on this planet in my eyes and being able to share it with people who don't have it that way is the most beautiful thing about Tropical Africa!”

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Interested to be on this topic of us? If we run into each other on a festival, we would love it if you tell us who you are. We pick some random friends for this blog topic so please understand that we cannot name everybody we meet in this series of blogs.