Thirty Steps to Kenya

When Yang Yu-jen, of Taiwan, and his wife Kara Remley, a Canadian national, learned of the hardships and perils endured by these students, they felt compelled to help. The couple, who live in northern Taiwan’s Tao­yuan City, decided to launch a campaign called Used Shoes Save Lives to encourage people to send them unwanted footwear. Though they felt optimistic that their aid initiative would resonate with locals, they never imagined the scale of the response they would receive. Within days of posting the campaign on Yang’s blog and Facebook page in April last year, they had gotten about 15,000 pairs of shoes and 7 metric tons of clothes—enough to fill a 40-foot shipping container.

“We were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response from individuals and corporations around Taiwan,” Yang says. “Initially, we’d been hoping to collect enough shoes and clothes for a 20-foot container. But to our surprise, the donations poured in very quickly, and soon our home, our church and my brother’s computer store were filled to the rafters.”

Yang was inspired to create the campaign by his father-in-law Allen Remley, a construction technician and former pastor living in Toronto. Remley uses the money he earns from his construction work to build clinics, churches and schools in impoverished regions of the world, including parts of Kenya. Yang learned about the jigger problem through conversations with his father-in-law. Once his footwear donation campaign had taken off, he decided to rename the initiative Step 30. The name is intended to highlight his and his wife’s desire to follow in Allen Remley’s footsteps and encourage people under the age of 30 to become involved in humanitarian aid work.

The messages that Yang first posted online last April have been forwarded incessantly since, leading to a constant influx of shoes and clothes. The young missionary says he has been amazed at the power of the Internet to mobilize not only donations, but also supporters and volunteers. “In the beginning, the shoes streamed in so fast that the situation was getting out of control, so we issued an Internet SOS for people to help sort and pack them for shipping,” he explains. “We were thrilled to see that so many people wanted to volunteer to help our cause.”

In July last year, the initial shipment reached its destination in Kitale, an agricultural town situated between Mt. Elgon and the Cherangani Hills in western Kenya, at an elevation of around 1,900 meters. Yang then made his first trip to the country last November to learn about the distribution of those shoes, which were handed out by a local church, as well as living conditions in the region.

“I originally thought I’d completed my task once the shipment was sent,” he says. “However, when I went there and saw people living in extreme poverty, I felt I should keep on helping them.” After returning to Taiwan, he established a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Step 30 International Ministries, and recruited full-time staff to assist him and his wife.

Isaac Chao, 44, worked as a project manager for a marketing firm in Tai­pei before becoming extensively involved in Yang’s campaign last year. “When I first heard about the donation request, I collected old shoes from my former colleagues and then reached out to Yu-jen and his wife,” Chao says, recalling his initial contact with the couple. “I was touched by their benevolence and dedication, so I decided to join their efforts.”

Chao, who now works full time for the NGO, traveled with Yang to Kenya last November and describes the visit as an emotional and inspiring experience. “Seeing the joy on those children’s faces when they put on their very first pair of shoes has motivated us to do more,” he says.

Since returning to Taiwan, Chao has used his management skills to help Step 30 develop fundraising strategies, including establishing a social enterprise. “We aim to design and sell innovative products to help pay for shipping, training for staff members and volunteers, and new aid projects,” he explains. Thus far, the organization has begun offering stationery products such as personalized notebooks and pencils on its website.

Like Chao, Mei Lin had a prosperous corporate career prior to becoming involved with Step 30. The thirty­something previously worked as a cost engineer for a technology company in Tai­pei, but felt unfulfilled by her job. After quitting the position and spending some time traveling, she started helping Yang and Remley manage their organization’s financial affairs and fundraising late last year. She accepted a full-time position with the NGO in May. “I used to be a workaholic and often felt unhappy and burned out. Increasingly, I was asking myself whether that was the life I wanted to live for the next 30 years,” Lin reminisces. “It became clear to me that I needed to make a change. I’ve found a sense of purpose since getting involved in humanitarian aid work.”

Lin, who helps manage the group’s volunteers, notes that a large number of students in Taiwan have given their time to assist the NGO. According to Yang, more than 10,000 young people from 25 local schools have taken part in the used shoes campaign by establishing­ donation centers at their academic institutions or helping the group sort and pack the footwear.

To date, the NGO has collected roughly 400,000 pairs of shoes, and has already shipped about half this number to Kenya. “Most Taiwanese people are compassionate, as evidenced by their generous donations to disaster relief and humanitarian aid missions at home and abroad,” Lin says. “We want to establish a platform to facilitate the growth of philanthropy and volunteerism.”

Yang and Remley’s used shoes campaign also caught the attention of Chou Wen-chin, a film director who has been involved in dozens of productions over the past decade and won the top prize at the 2014 New Taipei City Film Festival for his documentary Spark on the Ocean, which highlights a traditional Taiwanese fishing method that involves the use of fire to attract fish. The filmmaker says he initially intended to donate shoes to Step 30, but then thought he could better serve the NGO by making a documentary about its aid efforts.

Chou started recording the group’s daily operations in November 2014. The director and his crew also joined Step 30 staff members when they embarked on a trip to Kenya in March this year. The documentary team filmed the aid workers during their 45-day stay as they helped carry donated items to remote communities, clean and treat the wounds of local people suffering from jigger infestations, and organize classes for school students.

The director hopes to finish his movie by the end of this year, and expects to begin screening it shortly thereafter in Taiwanese theaters and at international film festivals. “It’s my hope that this documentary can raise awareness about the plight of poverty-stricken people in Africa,” he says. “In addition, it can help global audiences learn about Taiwan and what its people are doing to reach out to impoverished people in a faraway land.”

At present, Yang is preparing to launch other initiatives to help those in need in rural Kenya, including projects to drill wells, provide job skills training, and convert the containers used to ship the used shoes into classrooms. “We believe that education can reduce, and perhaps even eliminate, poverty,” he notes. “By creating learning facilities and opportunities, we want to give disadvantaged children hope for a better tomorrow.”

Implementing these new programs will require considerable funds. Purchasing a used cargo container and transforming it into a classroom, for instance, costs approximately NT$150,000 (US$4,840). In view of this, the newly formed NGO has appealed to Taiwan-based corporations for donations, and has already managed to garner significant financial assistance and logistical support from a major enterprise. In May this year, ASO, the country’s largest footwear retail chain, donated NT$1 million (US$32,260) to Step 30 to help cover shipping costs and the conversion of cargo containers. The firm is also allowing Step 30 to use its nearly 200 stores nationwide as drop-off points for shoe donations.

“The credit for everything we’ve accomplished thus far should go to the companies and individuals that have donated their items, money and time,” Yang says. “By launching these projects, we hope to inspire Taiwan’s young people to help others, especially impoverished people in Africa and elsewhere. I’m confident that together we can make a substantial difference in people’s lives.”

Many children in Africa who live without shoes fall victim to chigoe fleas (jiggers), infestations of which are potentially fatal. Yang’s campaign at least provides a layer of protection. The photo at right shows Yang cleaning and treating the wounds of local children.

Many children in Africa who live without shoes fall victim to chigoe fleas (jiggers), infestations of which are potentially fatal. Yang’s campaign at least provides a layer of protection. The photo at right shows Yang cleaning and treating the wounds of local children.

So many shoes! The joy of the local children is clear on their faces. Volunteer moms help the children find a comfortable pair of shoes.

Even when the children already have shoes, they are often worn to tatters. “Used Shoes Save Lives” has brought many African children the simple gift of a pair of shoes.

Killing two birds with one stone, Yang uses the opportunity given by donating shoes to deal with a second issue: “Swap your garbage for shoes!” Children responded eagerly, bringing in rubbish they had picked up to win a pair of shoes—and help clean up their environment.

Movie director Chou Wen-chin (at right in the photo), impressed by Yang’s actions, went to Africa with the team to make a documentary about their endeavors, in the hope of inspiring others to participate.

Yang feels unremitting sympathy for the plight of povertystricken children in Africa, and does his best to help.

Local resources and standards of education in Kenya are very poor. Yang is preparing to launch further initiatives to help local children, including projects to convert the containers used to ship shoes into classrooms in order to improve education, and to sink wells to provide fresh drinking water.

Local resources and standards of education in Kenya are very poor. Yang is preparing to launch further initiatives to help local children, including projects to convert the containers used to ship shoes into classrooms in order to improve education, and to sink wells to provide fresh drinking water.