A group of Clemson alumni is spearheading a campaign to bring athletic footwear to underprivileged children in Africa. Now they need help from current students.
Samantha Hoehner, who graduated in May 2009 in Biology, applied for the Peace Corps not long after graduation and was assigned to Lesotho, a small independent country in southern Africa about the size of Maryland. According to her friend Rachel Sparks, who graduated in May 2009 in English, she has been there since November and will serve 2.5 years.
Since being there, Hoehner, who was an avid runner throughout high school and college, became the school’s track coach. Because of her geographical location, she could not be reached for an interview, but she describes the decrepit conditions of the village and school on her blog.
“The debatably 400-meter track had two mild inclines and was dirt smeared with shards of glass,” she wrote. “My students ran barefoot! The girls ran in skirts with no sports bras. They were not allowed to eat or drink water until after they finished all their events because it makes you run faster.”
She goes on to describe the excruciating distances the children must run without shoes. “Each student ran multiple events, meaning the distance runners ran the 800, 1600, 3200 and 5000 meters all in the same day,” which is equal to about seven miles.
After seeing this, Sparks, who now lives in Denver, Colo., jumped into action. Hoehner told her she wanted to get shoes for all the students. “I thought, ‘Sam doesn’t have Internet access. How is she going to get this done?’” she told The Tiger. “And I just thought, ‘I could do it a lot faster, and I’m addicted to the Internet and my e-mail, so I could be on top of this.’”
Since then, Sparks has created a website, fan and event pages on Facebook and a Twitter page for the campaign. “We’re really getting the word out, and lots of people have been so gracious in giving their old shoes or donating money to help us ship them,” she said. “It’s really exciting to see strangers who have never heard of Sam – and especially not her kids – willing to donate and help out.”
So far, Sparks has amassed 70 pairs of athletic shoes, and that number is growing. Now, she needs help in funding the costs of shipping the shoes to Africa. “It’s not going to do any good if we have 100 pairs of shoes sitting here in the U.S. at my house if we can’t get them over there somehow,” she said. The estimated cost of shipping for a pair of shoes is $10, or $1000 for the entire shipment.
Sparks asks students to get the word out about their efforts and to donate themselves. Students interested in donating should visit shoesforsamantha.blogspot.com, or email shoesforsamantha@gmail.com.
Currently, there are five collection points throughout the United States, three of which are in South Carolina, including one at the University of South Carolina.
Hannah Oakley, a 2009 graduate in Biological Studies, is accepting donations in the Clemson area. Like Sparks, she decided to take action after reading Hoehner’s blog, and joined forces with Sparks.
Oakley has a box set up outside her office in Long Hall, room 153, where students can donate pairs of shoes. For those wishing to make monetary donations to help cover the shipping, a PayPal account is set up on the blog, shoesforsamantha.blogspot.com. “Any amount will do,” she said. “Two dollars is just as appreciated as $20.”
“Being from the South, a lot of us walk around barefoot all the time on Bowman or at the beach,” she said. “But the reality is these kids have to walk around barefoot all day, every day. They contract soil-transmitted diseases and incur infections from the cuts and sores they get on their feet. Each of these things can be prevented simply by wearing shoes.”
