The Shoes for Souls campaign sends shoes to communities in Zambia (Photo Daniel Abriel)
After a trip to Kabwe, Zambia, with the charitable organization Hands at Work, Dahousie Nursing student Kyle Warkentin launched his Shoes for Souls campaign. While in Zambia, he noticed a way that he could make a difference: by focusing on the feet.
Two years ago Shoes for Souls began as a small collection and soon became a large campaign involving the community and a committee of eight volunteers. Arriving at Dalhousie as a nursing student, he continued his work, getting classmates and other Dal students to help out. The result: sending 15,000 shoes to Zambia.
Congratulations to Kyle for doing his part in making such a contribution toward the improvement of everyday living conditions for the people of Zambia.
For the full story see the Dal News article:
There was a story about this in the Dal News a few weeks ago, with several comments and suggestions made to Kyle. I would like to reiterate. We should not assume that donating shoes to an African country is the best way to provide support. This initiative could put local shoemakers out of business, amongst other issues that were raised. There are reports of other similar endeavors, such as the t-shirt campaign that had a very negative impact. While I applaud Kyle for wanting to do something positive, I would like to reiterate my suggestion that he do more research on this type of initiative, meet with the many faculty at Dal who are involved in global health and development, and really reconsider whether or not this is the best way to go about contributing in Zambia.