New Taipei-based NGO Step30 has been collecting old shoes across Taiwan and donating them to remote communities in Kenya for ten years. Their mission includes providing other humanitarian aid to rural areas in 12 African countries with the goal of providing essential resources to underserved children.
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00:00A mountain of boxes, of donated shoes, fill this warehouse in northern Taiwan.
00:07Local NGO Step30 is shipping them off to rural communities in Kenya.
00:11But first, a group of young volunteers have been tasked with sorting the good from the bad.
00:31And this is where the donations are headed.
00:37Without proper shoes, people here are susceptible to Tongiasis infections caused by sand fleas,
00:44which burrow into skin to lay eggs, causing itching, difficulty walking,
00:49and can even lead to death in extreme cases, especially among young children.
00:54It's a common issue in resource-poor, marginalized communities in tropical regions.
01:00To help alleviate this problem, Step30 has been providing treatment for those affected by Tongiasis
01:07and started their annual shoe drive.
01:25Yang Youren has been spearheading this initiative for a decade now.
01:30Over the years, Step30 has treated over 50,000 people with Tongiasis
01:35and provided shoes to over 3 million people in remote communities across the African continent.
01:41They say they are committed to working with local community leaders to address the most pressing concerns.
01:55Mudenyo says many young children in rural Kenya, especially girls,
02:00are forced to walk several kilometers to fetch water, multiple times a day,
02:05exposing them to parasitic sand fleas, among other dangers.
02:10Beyond donating old shoes, Step30 has helped construct dozens of wells
02:15in rural communities and schools in Kenya and 11 other countries in Africa.
02:20Their mission over the years remains the same,
02:23to supply underserved rural communities with essential humanitarian aid,
02:28and to hopefully give disadvantaged children a leg up.
02:32James Lin and Wessie Lewis for Taiwan Plus.