Have you been watching the Olympics? Ethiopian long-distance runner Almaz Ayana just claimed the Gold for Ethiopia in the women’s 10,000m, breaking the world record by 14 seconds. Ethiopia is renowned for their exceptional runners. But as I have seen during my frequent trips there, some Ethiopians can barely walk, much less run, because they are afflicted with mossy foot disease (podoconiosis).
Recently, because of a generous contribution, we were able to produce more shoes and provide Konjeet with a new pair. Konjeet raised her hands in thanks to God and started singing. The rest of the patients joined her celebration, raising their hands and praising God.
Children’s Shoes
One day while I was in Ethiopia, we traveled many miles into the countryside on bumpy dirt roads, winding our way up the scenic Bale mountains to a small clinic. There we distributed shoes to the children of mossy foot patients, who had been registered with our health care workers. Children lined up eagerly waiting, many of them for their first pair of shoes. Their parents were anxious for their little ones to have shoes because they know shoes help prevent the terrible foot condition with which they suffer.
When you take your young ones to buy shoes, I’m sure that they have clean feet and socks. None of our patients have running water in their homes, so the crowd of children who came had dirty feet. Moreover, there was no running water at Bale clinic. It had to be carried from the river. The kids sat quietly on the ground patiently waiting their turn to wash their feet in a basin as a volunteer poured water from a pitcher over them. And how about a towel to dry the wet feet? No, we didn’t have towels, but the warm sun worked well.
Board members, Nesta Campbell and Ryc Strader, the clinic workers, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to put shoes on the kids.
Now Samaritan’s Feet International has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to receive 26,000 pairs of children’s shoes at no cost other than shipping. This means a pair of new shoes will only cost $.58!