The H19 Shoe Project
Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian disaster of our time. The number of innocent civilians suffering — more than 11 million people are displaced, thus far — and the increasingly dire impact on neighboring countries can seem to overwhelming to understand. Thousands of Syrians flee their country every day. They often decide to finally escape after seeing their neighborhoods bombed or family members killed.
The risks on the journey to the border can be as high as staying: Families walk for miles through the night to avoid being shot at by snipers or being caught by soldiers who will kidnap young men to fight for the regime.
The majority of Syrian refugees are living in Jordan and Lebanon, where weak infrastructure and limited resources are nearing a breaking point under the strain.
In August 2013, more Syrians escaped into northern Iraq at a newly opened border crossing. Now they are trapped by that country’s own insurgent conflict, and Iraq is struggling to meet the needs of Syrian refugees on top of more than one million internally displaced Iraqis.*
There’s just something about getting a new pair of shoes. It doesn’t really matter who you are, where you live or how old you are. New shoes are cool. I guess in a weird way, a new pair of shoes signals a new beginning or a new start. No scuff marks, tattered shoe laces, grimy soles or smelly reminders of where you have been.
Like many of you, I have been reading about the events that are unfolding in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, North Africa and other hot spots in this region. But unlike many of you, I live in this part of the world. As a journalist, I write about these geopolitical events and am often forced to separate my emotions from the harsh realities that millions of human beings are dealing with right now. That is why we started The H19 Shoe Project.
Hope and compassion are not just ideological concepts. Hope and compassion are tangible realities that make a measurable impact in a person’s life. Some may wonder, why shoes? These displaced and traumatized people need food, water, shelter, clothes, travel documents, money, or any number of other essentials. Why shoes? Well, one reason is because shoes are personal. One size doesn’t fit all. Because new shoes represent a new start on a new path and because many of these refugees are kids who have walked a very long way and their shoes didn’t survive the journey.
*Information provided by http://www.mercycorps.org – an incredible organization worthy of support.