Opinion
Education Opinion

A Special Pair of Sandals

By Barbara Purn — July 10, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Today we had a little diversion from the regular schedule in the afternoon. After watching monkeys from 7-12:45 and 2:30-4:30 our driver took us into the little town of Watamu. We were able to walk down the street and look into a few kiosks where items were for sale, mostly for the tourists at the few hotels in the area. All us women were anxious to order handmade sandals, which we did. They will be made in our size, with beaded decorations that we choose (about 20-30 different styles to choose from) and will be ready tomorrow afternoon. The price is 450 Kenya shillings which is about $6.30. One woman sat there and began to sew the beads onto the leather by hand as we spoke. We asked if they could really have 10 pairs of sandals made by hand by tomorrow and he said, “Yes, we have many people to help us.” They will probably work for many hours on these sandals and I will always think of that as I wear and enjoy them.

The opinions expressed in My Summer in Kenya are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.