Red Shoes with a Soul

Charles' Mother

Crocs with soul.

As I packed for our African safari, I decided in the last minute to throw in my red Maryjane Crocs.   I remember reading that we will be standing in our socks on the seats of the jeep to view the animals and that slip-on shoes would be ideal for quick maneuvering!

Shoes became a topic of conversation from the first day of our trip.  Everyone walked everywhere all day.  Where were they going?   People were walking with baskets, water jugs, even tables and grills on their heads.   They were walking selling their wares or herding their goats.  They pushed carts and pulled carts.  Some wore strapped sandals, some canvas tennis shoes, many went bare-footed.

Along the road and in the fields,  we saw the bright plaid robes of the Maasai tribe in the distance.  Their shoes were made of motorcycle tires!  You would pick the tire you liked (new or used) and they would cut it to your size and put straps on it while you waited!  These must serve them well since they walk about 20 miles a day on these tires!  (Michelin – take notice!)

Then we went to the Bashu Primary School in Arusha, grades one through seven – 767 children in all!  We visited the upper classrooms where they were studying English.  We sang songs to each other and created small groups for Q & A.  Despite gaping holes in their uniforms, most of them smiled from ear-to-ear.  Joice wants to be a doctor, Adelina a teacher.  They were incredibly positive and seemed determined.

Then we learned that there is no money for lunches so the children must walk home for lunch.  This means two round-trips every day to school for six days.  It is  not unusual for them to walk five miles a day.  If the distance is too far to go home for lunch – they just don’t eat.

This is when I thought of Crocs for these students.  They don’t wear down, they are comfortable, bacteria-free and great for the monsoons.  And, if we can figure out how to get more money for lunches, desks, pens and yes, new sweaters…

On the last day of our trip, we visited Charles Laurent.  Charles was only eight years old when we began to sponsor him though Compassionate International.  He is now 18 years old!  We regularly receive letters and knew that he just passed a major exam, and  was also selected to play on a soccer team in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania’s political capital).  Charles wants to be a civil engineer – a great choice.  He and his mother live in one-room (the size of a bedroom) -  corrugated steel roof, mud walls, no kitchen, and no bathroom.  Very clean and very sparse.

When we arrived with the translator to their home, Charles beamed and his mother sat and started weeping.  Our support seems so small, yet means so much.  Then, I noticed that the mother did not have shoes!  She wore a beautiful dress, a necklace, her hair pulled up and pinned,  but no shoes.

By now, shoes were such the conversation that our guides told us that people desperately needed shoes and pens!  I thought of my red Crocs.  I washed them beforehand and tucked them in my back-pack just in case they fit Charles’ mother.  Sure enough, when I pulled them out and she tried them on, I felt like I was the prince in Cinderella! They fit perfectly!

Thank you Crocs for your wonderful shoes – they were made for walking!

Shoes:  Photo album