‘We were convinced the world needed to know about these shoes’
By Galawizh H. Rashid - SLEMANI
The Soma paper - Issue No.28 (8/23/2007)
http://www.soma-digest.com/Details.asp?sid=87&stp=2

An American organization is pitching its campaign slogan: Buy Shoes, Save Lives, urging people to buy the traditional Kurdish male footwear called ‘klash kurdi’, and using the proceeds to finance humanitarian relief in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Millennium Relief and Development, a non-governmental and non-profit organization, traces its roots and mission to Houston, Texas.

They work in developing countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.

In the early 1990s, when they first came to Iraq, they opened offices in Baghdad and Dohuk. Now they have opened additional offices in Erbil, Slemani, Chamchamal, Kirkuk and Halabja. This organization challenges young people to serve their country and to bring peace by living and working in developing countries.

Cody Fisher, who manages the Halabja office, holds a degree in community services. Originally from California, he has been living in Kurdistan for the past couple of months.

“Our mission is to help the people of developing countries, meeting their needs, and at the same time, helping to promote a better understanding of America, and helping to promote a better understanding of other people in America,” said Fisher.

“Our impact can be most significant where health needs are most pressing and in some areas they are assisting clinics or government planning offices in identifying health education needs, and assisting marketing messages aimed at providing local health practices.”

Millennium Relief and Development has many volunteers working in many areas in general: education, youth outreach community development, business development, agriculture and environment, health and information technology.

According to Fisher, the specific duties and responsibilities of each volunteer can vary widely and each one has unique experience, “but our area in particular is health of children with heart problems and we focus on increasing money to help out with the health department we participate at many levels, and improving the environment for business educating people and find markets for tradition or value-added products.”

Fisher says they participate at many levels, whether helping artisans in their handmade goods or training them to take advantage of market opportunities.

Fisher and his colleague, Jeremy Courtney, have lived in Iraq only for a few months, but he says: “It does not take much time to realize that people here need help.”

“The two of us may not be the help they need, but we believe that when we partner with you, and you with a few others, we can form a movement that will bring the help that they need,” he said. “This is our vision.”

Fisher says that they started off as “just another pair of consumers”.
“We found a pair of shoes here that we liked so we bought them. It is something we have all done many times, but we started to notice that those shoes were different, and they did not come from the factory and not formed by machines. They were known as ‘klashi kurdi’ and had been around for centuries and this art of shoe-making had been passed down from generation to generation,” recounted Fisher.

“These shoes on our feet were made entirely by hand. Every piece of cloth was hand dyed. Every thread was hand spun. Every knot was tied by hand, the sole hand cut and formed. They weren’t mass produced. They were produced one pair at a time…35 hours at a time.”
He added: “We were convinced that the world had to know about these shoes.” Fisher and Courtney are currently traveling across the Kurdistan Region in search of the finest pairs of ‘klashi kurdi’. “We buy them and we sell them to people all over the world,” said Fisher.

“We think so much more can be done through these shoes though. That is why when you buy them, you are helping to tell a people’s story, spreading their culture, their traditions, their pride and joy, and investing in their economy and bringing hope by celebrating their talent and creation. It does not have to end here.”

He added: “Iraq’s children suffer form one of the highest rates of heart disease. Children around where we live are dying from heart complications that can be fixed through surgery. They simply can’t afford it. This is why we are giving money we make from selling shoes to help the heart surgeries. We are working with Brothers Together an organization that helps send Iraqi children to Jordan to receive their life saving surgery. We have sold about 40 pairs so far for about US$100, so buying these shoes you are literally helping to save a life.”

He concluded by saying: “The question here is not what we do, it is what you can do to help out.”