Group of Philadelphia students heading to Africa to explore the global supply chain
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Africa will soon be stamped across the pages of nine Philadelphia boys' passports who are mentees in the KB + Mo Bamba Education Abroad Program. The group is preparing to embark on a trip to Côte d'Ivoire.
Come August, the nine Philly students, from different parts of the city, will spend nine days alongside nine Ivorian peers, exploring the global supply chain.
Mayor Cherelle Parker shared insight about her own transformational trip to West Africa earlier in her life.
"When you get access to this opportunity, it is treason not to share it with other people who can't see what you see," she said.
The students will witness firsthand the journey of products, such as rubber, originating from African trees and culminating in American-made Michelin tires.
Bryce Boynton, 17, has participated with the KB Foundation since he was 14 years old. He's excited about seeing and experiencing the supply chain from beginning to end.
"I didn't know the collection process [of rubber] and how it was cleaned and turned into useable material," Boynton said.
"More importantly [this is] giving him leadership skills and getting to see something outside of himself and what he's usually used to seeing," Boynton's mother said.
The KB Foundation is a mentorship program that teams up with 76ers center Mo Bamba, whose family hails from the Ivory Coast.
They also partner with West Africa's largest agri-industrial company, SIFCA, for the cultural and educational exchange experience.
"It really opens [the mentees'] horizon to how everything works," said Justin Fishman, who is the vice president of programming for the KB Foundation. "[They ask] How can I be a part of this and where are the opportunities?"
"There is also an important human aspect. They get to meet the communities that are close to the plantations and to see the conditions that are not so easy sometimes," Henriette Gomis-Billon, the director of communications for the SIFCA Foundation, said.
