Martin came to La Reunion to visit his girlfriend, Anna, who is one of my good friends here - a German language assistant. Martin became a friend and as he left to return to Austria, he gave me his battered, holey, leather, very well travelled, Camper shoes so that I could help them to find a new loving owner in Madagascar.
These shoes went on a journey to and through Madagascar.
 |
| When they were given to me, they looked like this. |
 |
| They were taken to a street side cobbler in Fort Dauphin so that he could repare the holes. |
 |
| This cobbler did a job that was 100 times better than I expected. Using bits of leather from other very old shoes that would have been thrown into the bin in the Western world, he made a beautifully strong leather patchwork. |
 |
| After repair, in Fort Dauphin, the shoes travelled with me to Fianaransoa and were lovingly polished. |
 |
| Laces were added... |
 |
| Et voila. In Europe these shoes would have been thrown in the bin. I spent the equivalent of less than 1 euro paying for them to be repaired and now they have at least another 5 years life in them. They now have a loving Malagasy owner who wants to carry on the reparation story when they become worn out for the 2nd time. Where will the end up after that? |
Through various small scale projects, I am trying to create more of a link between the economically rich La Reunion and Madagascar, as the potential benefits to both side are enormous.
This is a little story.
About 1 pair of shoes.
But I think it's a good story.
Next time you go to throw out a battered, old, holey pair of shoes thinking "nobody will want those" - why not put them in the charity shoe bank?
They might just end up in Madagascar and go through the same journey as Martin's Campers.
