April 8, 2010, TOMS Shoes is holding its third annual 'One Day Without Shoes' campaign, to 'experience what millions of children endure every day'. They give a pair of shoes to a child in a third world country for every pair of shoes they sell.
Now I have gone barefoot by choice for fourteen years, and I am very happy with healthy, strong feet. I can tell you that going barefoot for a single day when you've spent a lifetime in shoes is NOT anywhere NEAR experiencing 'what children have to endure'. YOUR feet are going to be extremely tender and soft, you're going to wince at every pebble, shy away from every rose bush or thistle you spot, you'll probably get cold toes. You may even get sore calves because you walk differently from what you're used to. But THEIR feet are tough, calloused and leathery, they can handle much larger rocks without noticing them, they are only occasionally bothered by particularly nasty thorns. Many of them live in warmer climates, and they won't get sore calves because their calves are used to walking that way. I walk across broken glass, have cleared out thick bramble bushes wearing gloves but no shoes, have dug up parts of the garden using a regular shovel, been on hikes and recently taken up running, all without any trouble. In fourteen years, I have never yet had a cut, and even (glass)splinters and thorns happen only very rarely and leave no sores when they're picked out. When you're habitually barefoot, your feet get MUCH stronger than people who regularly wear shoes can even begin to imagine (it surprised me too, although I never thought that going barefoot was extremely painful or I wouldn't have started doing it).
Now don't get me wrong, in an ideal world going barefoot should be a choice, not necessity. I would like every child and adult to *own* shoes so they could wear them if and when they wanted. However, this isn't an ideal world and the children this 'shoe charity' is trying to reach lack MANY things that you and I consider 'necessities'. And in that case, I strongly believe footwear is not on top of the list of priorities to give to them. Apart from the fact that their feet are pretty tough, let's take a look at the list of facts from the charity's website.
Fact 1: In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help..'
And those shoes are going to last how long if they have to walk those many miles every day? Think of how long your kids' shoes last, and they don't walk a fraction of what these kids do. Wouldn't it make more sense to provide them with a well, starting equipment for farming, animals for raising, and more medicine? What's even better, the entire village benefits from that, not just the children.
Fact 2 is 'Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.'
Blisters from worn-out and out-grown shoes can also lead to serious infection. At least as bad or even worse, as blisters are known to be prone to infections, and the bacteria growing in old, smelly sneakers are of a particularly nasty kind too. Oh, about those nasty bacteria that live in closed shoes... do you think they'll wear these shoes with socks, and how often are they going to wash those? Old, sweaty shoes worn without socks (or with crusty, dirty ones) are worse than most of the things they step in barefoot!
And related to this, how much choice are these children going to have, are they going to be fitted correctly & how often are they going to get a new pair? Ill-fitting shoes are worse than no shoes, if they walk on shoes too small for them that's not going to do their feet any good! Apart from the obvious blisters (and possibly infections), here is an article showing that even in our Western world, many children walk on shoes a bit too small for them and it's causing foot damage like Hallux Valgus: http://newsblaze.com/story/2009031807190200001.tf/topstory.html So if that happens here, where we have shoe stores in every town, then what do you think is going to happen when you give a single pair of shoes to a third-world kid? Is anyone going to keep up with them, checking their shoes often enough and providing them with a new pair if they've outgrown them?
Fact 3 'Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.'
This may be the case in some places, but I know from various sources I trust that in many places in Africa and Asia kids are allowed to attend school barefoot. The teachers, when asked what was needed most, answered 'pencils, paper, books...' Sometimes more general things like food and safe water were named. Shoes were NOT mentioned to ANY ONE of the people who have visited third world schools & whom I know personally. I am sure some schools require footwear but I would replace the word 'often' with 'occasionally', and in general concentrate on school supplies when donating for the children's education.
Fact #4: 'In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.'
Fact #5: 'Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.'
Okay, in some areas/circumstances shoes are higher on the list of priorities, if the donations are going there I support them. Same as to cold climates where children are kept from going to school in winter months without footwear and warm clothing! But send them there and concentrate on more important things elsewhere. If they concentrate on such areas, I also think it's more likely TOMS can keep the donations frequent and prevent the problems I named above, caused by outgrown and worn-out footwear.
I will go barefoot April 8 (as I do any other day) and ask people to donate to groups who help people in small villages with wells, farm equipment and animals, and medicine. Suggested charities:
Water/wells:
http://www.charitywater.org/
http://www.letsbuildwells.org/
Mosquito nets:
http://www.nothingbutnets.net
Livestock:
http://www.maasai-association.org/goat.html
http://www.sendacow.org.uk/
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
Many, many items to chose from:
http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389
(note how this last organization has a *huge* list of different things to give, including clothing... yet I don't see shoes mentioned specifically. Hm, wonder if this is an oversight or maybe a large charity organization might have more of an idea what is needed than TOMS? ;-))
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11 comments:
Excellent post! I will even share it with my Twitter followers, because it's important that people be properly informed about these "charities" that are trying to make the whole world shod. Thanks for sharing this, Myranya. I'm so glad you are a shining example of how successful full-time barefooting can be.
Smiles,
Barefoot Michael :-)
Great points, and Tom's isn't the only one doing things like this. Soles4Souls also seems to place a priority on shoe wearing, when clean water is one of the most significant things we can hope to provide.
Agreed; though it is their agenda to shod people and build people's dependencies for shoes.
Word needs to get out because many people see it that way.
"The truth often lies in the middle, as there are several exclusively tropical diseases that people get from going barefoot. The worst is podoconiosis. Please look that up. Also, Tungiasis and Schistosomiasis. There are several more, none of which occur in the US or Europe. The real problems come from decades ago, when Americans and Europeans tried to ‘civilize’ and ‘westernize’ people who knew how to live naturally off the forest and grasslands. You either have to build all the proper infrastructure, including sewers, plumbing for clean running water, paved roads and sidewalks, and have a way to maintain all of this, or leave it all natural. And you would have to do the same with shoes – once they get them, they would always need to have a continuous supply of shoes, and be able to keep those that they have relatively clean. How is that going to happen? The overcrowded conditions and poor infrastructure causes unsanitary conditions that did not exist when people lived self sufficiently in the rain forests, and knew everything about their environment. Those people did not need shoes, they knew how to hunt and gather food, and which plants and animals possessed medicinal qualities. Much of that has been lost in most tropical countries, and they are often left to live in slums and total poverty."
Quoting a "friend" known as Beach Bum.
Xander, re: podoconiosis, see the comment on fact 4/5, I already say shoes are a higher priority in areas with the kind of soil causing that.
Schistosomiasis is NOT a disease caused by going barefoot. It's a parasite that enters through the skin but not through the soles of the feet while walking; the larvae live only in water and infect people swimming, kids playing in the water, people doing their laundry/dishwashing on the waters edge etc. Not situations in which people wear shoes even if they have them (water shoes obviously won't help, high boots/waders could for the women doing the washing but not for the kids playing & swimming).
The sand fleas that cause Tungiasis can be warded off by closed shoes but things like solid floors in houses and use of repellents are more effective since children tend to play on the ground in warm climates with bare legs and bare arms, and in that case shoes will only protect a very small part of their skin (remember these are children we're talking about, and not our American/European kids either who play most of the time at the computer desk or sit on the couch watching television ;-P)
Again, I'm not saying shoes can't be useful in some areas, in some situations, to prevent some kinds of diseases and injuries -what I object to in the manner this charity is promoted is the way it makes it seem like shoes are one of the TOP priorities for everyone. If I had it my way, everyone in the world would have plenty of safe water, medicine, mosquito nets, food, school supplies, proper housing, warm clothing, *and* shoes to wear whenever they wanted to; however as long as that isn't realistic I'm suggesting we start donating the items at the top of the list and the shoes come -for most areas- quite a ways down.
I read your post and I think you have some good ideas and points, and the fact that you can go barefoot everyday is pretty cool. I didn't know people did that or even that there is a community for that.
I gotta share something with ya though- 6 months ago, I was in South Africa putting Toms shoes on kids, taking part in a shoe drop. Amazing experience to say the least. I can easily say it motivated me to do more in this world- make a difference where I can. Shoes are probably not the 1st need that those kids needed, I can agree with that. Water, food, shelter, basic needs, for sure first...
After being involved with Toms and looking at other business, I'm thinking to myself- Finally, it's about time, a business that is known for giving back and is put into their business model. This should be the goal of all businesses. So, in that aspect, I'm not sure if I agree with you pinpointing things in your blog about Toms and tryin to prove that their facts are wrong. I don't know what the exact facts are, but honestly even if Toms facts are wrong, who cares?? Toms is clearly changing lives around the world, and they are sharing stories with all...
I'm not out to argue, no doubt, not me at all...I wish the whole world had medicine, food, etc., things Americans take for granted. Trust me- I woulda loved to take every kid I met in S.A. home with me, cause they deserve to have what we do. Overall, encourage goodness in this world and seeing with my own eyes, Toms is out there for the good of humanity.
Myranya,
An all around good post. I applaud you for your post. Keep them bare.
Barefoot Jake
Although I think you make very valid arguments. I think you along with the hundreds of others are failing to realize is that TOMS is not a charity. It's a company that makes a profit. I'm a huge fan of TOMS. But it is not because they're putting shoes on kids feet. The simple premise of One for One is what I find appealing. I buy from them because unlike other companies who advertise and sell, TOMS advertises, sells, and gives back. If more companies followed this those top priorities talked about by a previous comment could be addressed.
I think everyone needs to look past the shoe aspect of TOMS and see the bigger picture. TOMS is creating a new kind of business model, One for One. It is one that I think people need to notice and appreciate before criticizing the company.
*Check out www.Pangea.com, it's a water bottle company that has adopted the same kind of model*
my mistake it's www.pangeabottles.com
Its way past time for people to start looking into this supposed amazing charity and start realizing how much more needed things like medicine and clean water are than poorly made shoes...
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