Barefoot in Belize

Have you ever thought about your shoes?  What difference do they make in your everyday life?  Personally, I hate walking without shoes.  As soon as I wake up in the morning my flip flops are on the floor beside the bed, exactly where I left them as I crawled into my comfy bed.  A simple pair of shoes makes my life more complete.  I wear them to run.  I wear them to drive.  I wear them to go to the mailbox.  I even wear them to shower if I am somewhere with less than adequate shower facilities.  I don't know about you, but my shoe supply is overflowing from my closet and working into the floor of my bathroom.

How would I feel without a pair of shoes as I walked into the school with all my friends?  Many of the Belize students walk into school with the most torn and tattered shoes you have ever seen in your life.  Have you ever tried to walk successfully in a pair of cheap flip flops in the rain and mud?  Here's what I would do - I would take the shoes off and walk in the mud barefoot.  What's in all of that mud anyway?  In a country where a decent bathroom is not the norm, you must wonder...

That is what some of our Belize friends experience daily.   This is why we work so hard to help them get the things they need for their simple health.

Walking barefoot in the U.S. is sometime a pleasure.  Walking barefoot in a Third-World Country is a health hazard.

Jenny