PANAMA CITY, Panama
Children in Narganá Island, Kuna Yala territory, run through
about in their new pair of shoes, thanks to the SolesUnited
Foundation and UNICEF.
More than 30,000 school-age boys and girls in the indigenous
areas of the Ngobe Buglé, Emberá-Wounáan and Kuna Yala, as well as
in the Darien province and other emergency-declared areas, received
a pair of Crocs footwear as a health promotion intervention, aimed
at reducing skin infections, fungus growth and other infectious
diseases linked to bare feet.
SolesUnited Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Crocs, in
partnership with UNICEF, donated the shoes to benefit the children
in the most remote areas of the country, where poverty strikes more
than 90 per cent of the children, and more than 50 per cent suffer
from chronic malnourishment.
This ground-breaking, first-time collaboration between Crocs and
UNICEF was supported by the Panamanian Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Education.
Along with the pairs of Crocs, families – and the communities
who helped organize the distribution – also received information in
their own language on the importance of wearing shoes to
prevent diseases and infections. This massive distribution of
footwear took place right before the start of the school year so
that the children could arrive to the first day of classes in their
colourful new shoes.
A boy in the community of El Real, in Darien, proudly holds his
new pair of crocs.
In addition, the Panamanian Minister of Education also announced
that Crocs footwear will be fully accepted and welcomed as part of
the school uniform in remote and rural areas. This
announcement opens the door to thousands of children who were
previously excluded from schools for lack of shoes.
One such child is José Luis Montezuma, 13, who used to work in
agricultural plantations in the highlands of Chiriquí. Since he was
8, he worked 10-hour days carrying heavy loads of coffee, onions or
tomatoes, to help his mother feed his other 5 siblings, and to be
able to afford school supplies. But with no money left over for
shoes, he often had to go barefoot.
“I am very happy I am getting a pair of shoes that lasts. They
protect my feet from sickness,” he said.
Thanks to the simple gift of shoes, José can now go to school,
where he wants to study to be a doctor or an engineer.
