barefootin' in the news....but oh the irony

[scedastic]

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/01/gobles_teen_hopes_to_raise_mon.html

http://www.ayearwithoutshoes.org/p/about-aywos.html



Synopsis: a Michigan teenager goes barefoot for a year to raise money to send to Swaziland, Africa, so that the little children there can have the shoes that they are required to wear for school.



Sigh.

It was on one of our news outlets as well, and what a sacrifice this boy is making............................so that the little children could have shoes.........................

 

[The Ramzev]

Because of course there's no

Because of course there's no kids in the US who could use shoes...

 

[NotSoDoomedRunner]

I hope he does not step on

I hope he does not step on any syringes.

 

[BarefootGburg]

Shrug. He's trying to do

Shrug. He's trying to do good. Good is good, here or there.

Because of course there's no kids in the US who could use shoes...

 

[Longboard]

Good would be working to help

Good would be working to help those schools over there have better access to learning materials and educating them that barefoot students should be allowed to learn along side the shod.

Shoeing them (usually temporarily) causes more harm than good in many ways that have been well documented.

I would suggest going barefoot for a year INCLUDING to school (let the administrators read Dr. Howell's "The Barefoot Book")

in an effort to convince the African School Boards to drop their ridiculous shoes required dress code.

The kid of course only means well (and admits that he enjoys going barefoot rather than claiming some sort of sacrafice), one of the comments even recalls him hating shoes last year in school.

 

[JosephTree]

$40. per pair seems like a

$40. per pair seems like a lot of money for kids shoes. Even if the shoe company donates a pair per pair purchased, it still is a lot. Consider that the per capita income in Swaziland probably runs to something around $1 per day.

Quite serviciable shoes could be found for probably $5 to $7 per pair, or even less if sourced aggressively.

I don't know, but I find marketing devices like giving shoes away to be a red flag which triggers my innate distrust.

...and the whole shoes to school in Swaziland thing smacks of cultural pollution to me and I agree that the need for them here is highly debatable.

 

[Chaserwilliams]

I think we should send them

I think we should send them all alot of birth controll so that they stop making kids, thus eliminating not only the need for schools, but the entire problem all together!

 

[PatrickGSR94]

I'm not really familiar with

I'm not really familiar with the area of Africa in question, but in under-developed areas that have no modern infrastructure like clean, running water and city sewer systems, there is a real problem with disease that can be picked up from walking around barefoot on infested ground areas.

While the money could be put toward adding that sort of infrastructure, that's probably not going to happen in the near future. Shoes, on the other hand, would help reduce spread of disease now, in the near term. It would be better, though, if the shoes were more open, or more minimal, or whatever.

 

[scedastic]

PatrickGSR94 wrote:I'm not

I'm not really familiar with the area of Africa in question, but in under-developed areas that have no modern infrastructure like clean, running water and city sewer systems, there is a real problem with disease that can be picked up from walking around barefoot on infested ground areas.

While the money could be put toward adding that sort of infrastructure, that's probably not going to happen in the near future. Shoes, on the other hand, would help reduce spread of disease now, in the near term. It would be better, though, if the shoes were more open, or more minimal, or whatever.

Yeah, flips flops are next to nothing in cost.

I get that, but you are still treating the symptoms, not the problem. There are lots of cool local water projects going on around the world that are indeed solving some infrastructure problems one bit at a time. Lots of organizations (like kiva international) that work towards empowering the people who live in a place to change their own lives. It's hard to believe sending stuff and more stuff along on mission trips is going to do much for those kids, short or long term.

Aside from that, people and especially children are picking up nasty parasites and diseases from everywhere, especially drinking water, not just their feet. So instead of carrying 4-5 parasites around, with shoes, maybe it will go down by one or two?



In any case, the real irony is this theme of someone (of course well intentioned) "sacrificing" himself by going barefoot, when in fact he's probably doing something very healthy for his development.



And I didn't mean to get all serious there; I actually thought it was a funny anecdote. They showed the kid's feet on tv and they looked healthy and strong. Maybe he'll keep it up till next year.

 

[BarefootGburg]

I dunno. They tell you what

I dunno. They tell you what they need, it's not drugs, guns or poison, maybe you just figure they are the best judges.

 

[Longboard]

The parasites that enter

The parasites that enter through bare feet are stopped easily and cheaply by teaching the local villagers to abandon the communal latrine and spread out a bit when deficating.......no need for any real infrastructural improvement.

When they ask for shoes it's for fashion purposes, or for when the schools require them for reasons of "decorum", not disease prevention.

And as I noted before, the Michigan kid PREFERS going barefoot by his own admission, and brainstormed w/ a buddy on how he could channel that into something good. I think he just doesn't realize that he is defeating his own cause....barefoot acceptance.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Why not just post your

Why not just post your concerns to him through the article on that site? Maybe he will start to open his eyes.