KIBERA UPDATE: Due to recent developments in Kenya we are still going ahead with the Kibera project but, understandably, the project has been postponed until later in 2008. Our thoughts and wishes to the people of Kibera.
Update 04/10: The quest to pack the collected shoes to ship! Stage two, and part one. On April 5th we packed 5000 pairs of shoes to send to the docks. Famous quote from Tony, we walk to the first (of FOUR!) storage units, open the room, “Ho-ly S___” To see so many shoes up there is almost beyond belief.
Thanks so much: Nicole who was up there when we arrived at 9AM, I went up with Tony, Esmee & Bailey, his two kids, and Lyric & Liam, two friends. Then Amy, Jamie, Abs, Joya, Erin & Chris, Cameron, (Supermodel) & Anamayaa his girlfriend (a super nice Spanish model), and Sizulu came along, their friend Mark, and Dena and her German friend, and also R2 came up, and PonyTail Ted and his son John. A huge thanks to West Farms storage, who have been absolutely great & cargo ventures too for their superb support.
Blame Jeanine Lobell for kicking off the Kibera Project! Anthony (Jeanine's husband) had warned me she was an action woman extraordinaire but as Jeanine and I ran round New York's reservoir I did not guess that she would make this project a reality.
It was coming to the end of the run and Jeanine was asking, "So what are you going to do?" And I mentioned an old goal of mine; to put shoes on the entire population of the 'illegal' Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Africa's largest slum. As I write the inhabitants number well over 1.2 million people, when I stayed there for a week back in 1995 the number was closer to 500,000.
By the time we had got back to their kitchen the plan was in motion. "You've ran your race, now gives others a chance," said Anthony verbalizing the notion I had of standing by the finish line of the New York City Marathon and collecting each runners shoes. Jeanine was already a step beyond us thinking of plans for producing a Shoe4Africa shoe.
Turn back the clock twelve years to when I was in Kenya: It was an invitation of a friend to visit his family, "Come for dinner" and I volunteered to go for a week. I thought Kibera was another town, like Boston, when I heard 500,000 people lived there. Each step I took the mud of sewage climbed higher until I was ankle deep. The awful smell that gets into your head, the stench of human excrement. At night, when/if it rained I would be happy when lying on the floor of some hut for the fresh air that would last for at least an hour the next morning, but know that sleep would be impossible as the rain fell on the makeshift corrugated iron roof.
Riddled with disease and despair: No sewage or drainage. I lived there for a week and each day I would stick my head over the nauseous paraffin lamp to fill my lungs and head with that horrid smell to try and drown out the stench of human excrement. People, the 1.2-million inhabitants, walk barefoot in sewage. The spread of disease through the foot could be drastically, humongously cut by people simply putting a shoe on their feet.
I stayed in a hut that must have been 12' x 12' and there were five of us. I was given a space on the floor and at night when it rained it was impossible to sleep because the corrugated iron roof was like a drum skin.
There was no holiday vacation, no pension plan for any of the residents; seemingly no way out. Yet the deep capacity for human joy in this pit of what I thought to be a den of despair was awe inspiring.
However things did not turn out as planned, instead of being at the finish line we parked a truck (thanks JRS Trucking) after Isaya & Liz parked their cars on the Central Park West Avenue to save parking spaces, coincidentally opposite the material girl Madonna's apartment, and collected shoes. In Seven hours we received an overwhelming 9,800 pairs! The largest donation being just over a thousand pairs from the Lehman Brothers (thanks Kurt) just out shoe-ing Thomson Financial (thanks Kiet), and schools such as the Rudolf Steiner (460) and Spence coming in with box after box of shoes.
ID-PR from Los Angeles had given us some great publicity with an article in People Magazine, mentions in the local newspapers, and then the huge support of the fantastic NYC running community who were awesome. Friends who diverted on the way to work, others who had run the race the day before dropped by with their shoes... and with me worked a tireless group of volunteers: Rick P, Delilah D, Elena C, Shay H, Urban B, Anthony E, Erin B, Stan Z, Charlie B, Nicole C, Michele C, Deidre C, Will G, Isaya I, Adam, Cara B, Mary D, Liz C, Erika from Spence, Jessica from the MTA.. Dennis the driver.. who have I forgot?
Runner's World brought boxes from Emmaus with Warren, Josephine, and Susan.. it really was a day to behold.
Then we drove the shoes up to the Bronx storage (thanks West Farms Storage!) where Liz, Deidre, Stan, Isaya and I loaded all the shoes into our storage units (thanks Jamie S for setting that one up).
Cargo Ventures (Thanks) will be shipping the first load off.
Thanks also to the superstars like Paula Radcliffe and Natalie Portman for their shoes!
The plan: Once we get to Kibera in March we will have a sports festival giving out the shoes, and furthermore many Soccer uniforms.. but more of that to come later!
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ABOUT Shoe4Africa
Shoe4Africa is a non profit organization dedicated to promoting social empowerment, health initiatives and AIDS awareness. The group collects and distributes used running shoes, creates sporting events and training programs, and offers HIV testing and information to all who attend the races and games. By partnering with some of Africa's most beloved running stars, Shoe4Africa has been able to reach communities that have historically resisted traditional HIV/AIDS initiatives.
The Kibera slums have a very high mortality rate. Your donated shoes can have a huge impact on a person's overall health and happiness, and could even affect how long they live. Shoe4Africa will transport the shoes to Kenya and distribute them at signature sporting events this March. Events will include a community running race and the kick-off of the Kibera soccer leagues! Besides the clear-cut benefits of increased hygenien and exercise, the program helps Kibera residents in the following ways:
- AIDS Testing / Awareness: At Shoe4Africa sporting events, HIV testing and HIV/AIDS information is freely available to all who attend
- Hookworm Reduction
A Kenyan study showed that 92% of students age 8-20 were infected with intestinal worms which often enter the body through the feet. These worms affect everything from a child's intellectual development to a woman's ability to carry a baby to term. Providing people with footwear drastically reduces the chances of transmission.
Shoe4Africa would like to thank all the schools and organisations supporting the Kibera Project
Runner's World, The New York Flyers, Mizuno Track Club, Central Park Track Club, Thomson Financial, Lehman Brothers, New York Harriers, Urban Athletics, Prospect Park Track Club, The Running Center, lululemon athletica, MTA, The Spence School in Manhattan, Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan, Corpus Christi School in Port Chester, NY, Mount Sinai School District in Mount Sinai, Long Island, Our Lady of Grace in the Bronx St. John Villa Academy on Staten Island St. Luke School in the Bronx St. Ursula Academy in Mount Vernon, NY The Ursuline School in Tuckahoe, NY Julien Farel Salon in Manhattan, NY West Farms Storage in West Farms, NY The James Baldwin School in Manhattan, NY US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY Baker Hill Pub in Great Neck, NY Marcy Finestone Steve Buzzell's 7th grade class at Stowe Middle School, Stowe, Vermont Steve Richardson and the Pickering Running Room from Ontario, Canada
You can help too! Send your shoes to Kenya! How? Click here!