Posh’s mission to empower women of Africa … while sporting £490 of designer gear!
IT is a place where disease is rife, water sparse and families are forced to survive on less than 70p a day.
But that didn’t stop Victoria Beckham wanting to bring a little bit of glamour to the lives of Kenyan slum-dwellers.
The millionaire pop star-turned-designer posed in £280 jeans, £120 boots and a £90 T- shirt during a humanitarian trip to Nairobi at the weekend. She wore full make-up and had barely a hair out of place.
It led some observers to accuse Mrs Beckham, 43, of using poor Kenyans as photo props after she shared the pictures on social media.
In one photo, the former Spice Girl posed next to homes made from panels of corrugated iron as she showed off £490 worth of designer clothes – wellington boots by French designer Le Chameau, a white T-shirt from her own label and jeans by R13, a brand favoured by celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Halle Berry.
However some fans said they were disappointed in her and accused the star – who on her last visit to Kenya in 2016 with eldest son Brooklyn had stayed in an exclusive £388-a-night resort hotel – of ‘poverty tourism’.
One wrote: ‘You had time to put on full make up in Kenya? And your white Tshirt has no stains and dirt? Those poor Kenyans are being used as photo props.’ Another commented: ‘ A photoshoot in the middle of poverty, why not?’
Mrs Beckham, who was in the Kenyan
At least here no one expects me to smile: A pouting Victoria Beckham poses in the shanty town in an outfit costing £490 capital for Sport Relief, visited a girls’ boxing charity in Kariobangi, a slum in Nairobi’s notorious Eastlands area.
A caption on a picture of the former pop star trying her hand at boxing, alongside a group of young girls read: ‘I’ll blame the jeans for the fact that I’m not that good.’
Boxgirls Nairobi is a charity which organises self-defence training for more than confidence 800 girls It and aims from leadership to disadvantaged give young skills. women backgrounds.
The charity said boxing has helped to educate people about gender stereotypes in poor communities.
According to relief charities, Kariobangi – home to more than 100,000 people – is rife with crime, disease and poverty. There is little access to healthcare, education or running water. Mrs Beckham, who made the trip without husband David, 42, and her four children, posted another picture to her Instagram page that showed her cradling a baby – also called David. She wrote: ‘Day two in Nairobi visiting the Amref Clinic in Kibera. Meet baby David, he’s about to be given lifesaving vaccinations thanks to Red Nose Day donations.’ Speaking about her trip, Mrs Beckham said: ‘I’m so proud to have been supporting the amazing work of Sport Relief for over a decade. I am visiting incredible community projects that are protecting, educating and empowering women of all ages. I’m truly inspired by the projects that Sport Relief support both here and of course across the UK. ‘It is all down to the amazing generosity of the British public and the money you donate that girls across the world are being given brighter, happier and healthier futures.’