Two years ago, I was a freshman in college who was trying to find her way. One day, October 23rd 2014, I was having one of the hardest days of my life. It was the first time that as freshman we had to schedule our classes on our own. I am someone who thinks everything through and if something isn’t right, I freak out and just want to cry. I was having problems with my schedule and no one could truly understand my problem.
In the afternoon of that very day, I received an email from the mailroom on campus saying that I had a package. Not knowing what it was, I stopped there after my meeting with my advisor. The senders name on the package was a name I have never heard of in my life. Completely confused and just thinking how this could ruin my day more, I opened the package. Inside was this bracelet…
After thinking about whom could have possibly sent me this, I realized it must have been my boyfriend, Aaron. He knew that I was worried about scheduling and that I was stressing out a lot so he wanted to help me in some way.
This bracelet is known as a Lokai. Each bracelet carries elements from the highest and lowest points on Earth. The white bead on the bracelet holds water from highest point, Mount Everest and the black bead carries mud from the lowest point, The Dead Sea. The idea of the bracelet is that when you are at the lowest point in life, stay hopeful and when you feel as if you are on top of the world, stay humble.
The clear bracelet was the first one ever made and the original that can still be bought two years later. Over time, Lokai has developed five more in different colors such as blue, wild, pink, red and purple. Each bracelet supports a different foundation or charity. The clear one donates 10% of profits to charity partners. For every blue lokai purchased, $3 was donated to the Charity Water foundation. One dollar of each purchase of the wild lokai was put towards supporting the World Wildlife Fund. For every pink lokai that was sold, $1 was donated to Susan G. Komen for breast cancer awareness. A portion of the red lokai profits went to support the great cause of Save the Children. The newest lokai is the purple one, which supports the Alzheimer’s Association. One dollar is donated for every bracelet bought.
Each of the colored bracelets are unavailable on the Lokai website today because they are limited edition. Personally I have the original, wildlife, pink, red and purple ones. The day that my boyfriend sent me the first one made me realize that I may have felt like I was at one of my lowest points in life, but I needed to stay hopeful and push through it.
People think that I am crazy to have bought all but one of the bracelets, but I truly believe in the effect that they can have on someone. The donations that Lokai makes are a true act of kindness. Now all I can do is wait patiently for the newest Lokai to be made!