Let's Talk About Flip Flops

We are all familiar with flip flops, we see them everywhere during the summer. They are the ideal footwear at the beach, on holiday or just everyday when the weather is warm and our feet are just crying out to feel free and enjoy the sunshine. I wonder though how many of you have ever thought of them as a health benefit. There are many areas where people walk about barefoot and this can lead to a variety of health problems. Flip Flops for Africa has been set up by Chierika Ukogu, a student at Mount Joseph Academy in Philadelphia.

Chierika’s parents had moved from the same town in southern Nigeria to America to further their studies and look for better employment opportunities. They met and married after their move to America but continued to visit their home town of Ukpor taking their children with them to allow them to become familiar with their ancestoral home.

Chierika noticed that many people had problems with their feet; sores, cuts, infections from walking on the dirt roads and discoloured nails. The impact of these problems could be reduced simply by wearing flip flops.

Following her freshman year Chierika attended a business seminar for students after which she set up a non-profit making non-governmental organization (NGO) under the name of Flip Flops For Africa. Not wishing to run the business as a profit making organization Chierika set about asking people for unwanted flip flops to pass on to people in Africa for whom the benefits of wearing something light and airy on their feet which would provide some protection from the dirt roads would be enormous. She found that often people would not only willingly hand over hardy worn flip flops but would also purchase new ones to include in their donation.

A year after coming up with the idea Chierika travelled to Nigeria with her parents to oversee the distribution of 10,000 pairs of flip flops. After some problems with officialdom the unusual cargo was distributed to the grateful masses.

Chierika was not content to leave it with just that consignment but has plans to increase the number of flip flops sent to Nigeria and also plans to extend the program to cover a larger area. Her goal is to reach 1,000,000 pairs of flip flops.

Tags: Africa, Flip Flops