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Today as yesterday, in many places in Africa, shoes are a status symbol and only the wealthiest can afford them.
As they are expensive, most of the people in rural areas do not wear them and go barefoot or only wear shoes to go to work and participate in ceremonies.
The organization Viatu Africa Kenya -
viatu
is a Swahili word that means shoes‒, which provides footwear to those who do not have them, saw this lack and jumped in to help.
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According to Karol Tunduli, the charismatic founder of Viatu, there are people in Kenyan villages who have never worn shoes because they cannot afford to buy them.
For them, it is not a necessity.
Only after covering the household expenses, if they have some money left, they use it to buy it for their parents.
Isabella Nekesa is the second of six siblings.
She grew up in Kitale and currently works in Nairobi as a shop assistant.
Her parents couldn't afford to buy shoes for herself and the rest of their children.
“When I was little I didn't have it because my parents couldn't afford it.
They gave them to us for Christmas.
His legs were always battered, with injuries from stepping on stones and thorns.
Sometimes I put them on secretly to go to school and I ended up getting beaten up, ”he says.
Peterson Olesadira is a long-distance runner. He was born and raised in Laikipia County, Rumuruti. He is the second of five siblings and currently lives in Nairobi. Their parents were small farmers and wore traditional footwear called
kenyarah
(local sandals made from tires), but they had no means to buy them for their children. “I was born into a very humble family. Many years I was barefoot. He had chiggers (a tropical flea whose females penetrate under the host's skin and lay their eggs there, causing painful ulcers) from walking barefoot in dirt-filled places like public bathrooms and many others. I remember being given my first pair of shoes after winning a 12 kilometer cross country race. I was in fourth grade, I was 11 years old ”, recalls the athlete.
Peterson Olesadira at his home in Nairobi.Rahab Gakuru
Tunduli adds that there are also people who have shoes, but who can never wear them due to the context or the community in which they live.
“When I was little, my father was a boss and my mother a teacher;
so they could afford to buy shoes, but my brothers and I only got them for celebrations.
The shoes were for Sundays and special occasions, nothing more.
Once a teacher beat me for taking them to school, because I was not the same as the other children, so I never wore them to go to class again ”.
In 2012, the founder of Viatu traveled to Uganda invited by his church (he is a pastor and gospel singer who denounces injustices, among other trades), and on the way back he passed through his village in Bungoma county, in the former province from Western Kenya.
She noticed that her son was playing with a boy who was not wearing shoes.
He also saw another trying to remove a thorn from his foot.
Then he wondered what he could do to help them.
After long discussions with their friends, they learned that they had to provide them with footwear.
I was born into a very humble family.
Many years I was barefoot.
Had chiggers (a tropical flea whose females penetrate under the host's skin and lay their eggs there, causing painful ulcers) from walking barefoot in dirt-filled places
Peterson Olesadira, athlete
“We take it as a mission.
It's not just my business.
There are many people involved to make it happen.
The first time we distributed shoes we organized a concert with various gospel musicians, and the price of admission was a pair of shoes.
We collected 300 pairs that we donated to Fuata Nyayo in the Nairobi suburb of Mukuru.
Later we realized that if we wanted to donate them in the suburbs, the best thing was that they were wellies.
Slum dwellers need them because sewage systems are open, overflowing often and are dangerous, ”he explains.
Distribution of footwear in Tuiyomoi Primary by the Viatu Africa organization, in Kenya.Viatu Africa
An investigation in 2012 published by the
Panafrica Medical Journal
, already revealed that the chigger infestation is a health problem of the first order that is systematically ignored. The study, which analyzed the knowledge, behaviors and practices of family members who had chiggers, was carried out in Muranga district and in rural Kenyan towns. The majority (88.2%) of those interviewed had had chiggers at some point in their life. About a quarter (23.6%, equivalent to 64 households) reported that between one and five members of the household were infected. However, the presence of affected people was observed in 51 households (18.8%).
Tunduli claims that there are villages where chiggers are a threat to habitability.
These parasites should be declared a national catastrophe, he believes, adding: “We also take care of teaching hygiene standards to the population.
We tell them to cover the floors with suitable materials against chiggers ”.
Viatu Africa Kenya is led by a five-member team, with the local support of 20 collaborators.
So far, the organization has provided shoes to about 100,000 people, they say.
There is evidence that they have performed in Marsabit, Isiolo, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Samburu, Solai ... Tunduli recalls that, in Samburu, a man lost his patience while waiting for his turn to be handed his shoes and slapped him.
Karol Tunduli, founder of Viatu Africa.Rahab Gakuru
In 2013, Tunduli was named a hero of Safaricom (Kenya's leading phone company) for his work delivering shoes.
"I appeared in your digital magazine," he says.
And in 2015, her organization was named a hero by a food company, Indomie.
Viatu Africa collects shoes through their profiles on social networks and with the support of different organizations and companies of all kinds.
“We work closely with companies like Impala Glass or educational centers like GEMS Cambridge International School to collect shoes on our behalf.
We are also trying to get more elite training centers to function as collection points, ”explains Tunduli.
Viatu Africa collects shoes through their profiles on social networks and with the support of different organizations
According to the founder of Viatu, they lost a lot of time with the formalities to register.
Apparently, the registry office had lost the documentation, so that many of the solidarity checks that had been sent to them expired.
"I do not wish it to anyone.
Four years just to get a certificate is too long.
We were about to give up.
We now have our sights set on the future.
We provide a service to the community and we make people happy ”.
Tunduli adds that Covid-19 has been a significant challenge.
“Many of our donors are now in financial trouble.
We also have to strictly abide by the rules and avoid unnecessary travel and meetings.
We hope that Kenya will get the virus under control and we can get back to our work. "
For the future, Viatu Africa is thinking, he says, of more than just delivering a pair of shoes.
The organization wants to provide access to footwear forever.
The association will take care of the student with the best grades from each of the towns he visits.
He also hopes to sponsor students who are unable to enter the institute due to insufficient qualifications and help them learn manual trades and other skills so they can support themselves.
They also plan to include the prisons of the towns they visit to distribute shoes in them.
Another environment in which they are conspicuous by their absence.
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