U.S. charity makes expandable shoes for developing world

A U.S. charity group has developed footwear for children that can expand five sizes, to address the dire lack of shoes in underdeveloped countries.

The group, Because International, was created by Kenton Lee, from Nampa, the U.S. state of Idaho, after he volunteered half a year in African country Kenya, where he found most of children had to walk barefoot or had outgrown their shoes.

In talking with Xinhua over the phone, Lee recalled that he saw a little girl in painfully small shoes, "so small her toes showed through the front, and I thought that these children needed shoes that could grow with them, ideally sandals."

The social entrepreneur said over 300 million children worldwide have to walk barefoot or use smaller footwear, and many of them suffer from soil-borne foot and nail parasites.

Back to the United States in 2007, Lee paired up with a shoemaker to design new shoes and created the charitable, Because International, to distribute the footwear, known as Shoes That Grow. However, it was not until last year that the first batch of the sandals reached Kenya.

"We delivered 3,000 sandals and are working on sending 5,000 more in July," he said.

The sandal comes in two sizes and has three parts that can expand thanks to straps and a buckle on the back. "One size is designed to fit ages from 4 or 5 years old until the age of 10 and the second size is for children from 10 to 15 years old."

Many American families have reached out to Because International, and Lee and his team are working on a new project to adjust the sandal to the U.S. market. The surge in local demand has caught Lee and his colleagues by surprise, since the shoes were not designed to be fashionable.

"I am honestly baffled that the shoe industry hasn't come up with the idea before, but I guess it wouldn't be profitable for them," Lee said. Endite