By Megan Michler
Every day, a small child in southern Africa wakes up, takes a drink of water that comes from a tap his family shares with four others, kisses his mother goodbye and walks six miles to school. Barefoot. He hardly notices; he’s been walking on these unpaved, rocky streets-if that’s what you want to call them-for the entirety of his short life. His feet don’t quite resemble feet anymore, but a mass of calluses and broken skin.
He has bigger problems, though. He’s living with AIDS. His mother, that same woman he just kissed goodbye, passed the disease to him while he was still in her womb. He’s dying, slowly. She is, too. More than likely, he will soon join the ranks of the 15 million children in Africa orphaned by AIDS.
It is because of that little boy that I, along with a few hundred others, participated in an event called The Walk on Monday, Oct. 20, in Times Square. The band Hanson hosts a one-mile walk before each of their concerts in an effort to bring awareness to the African AIDS epidemic as well as the extreme poverty that plagues much of the region. In 2006, the band took a trip with a Tulsa-based organization to Soweto, South Africa, and later, to Mozambique. What they saw in the small villages and hospitals they visited deeply impacted and inspired them to bring the fight against AIDS back to the U.S. In light of their tour in support of their last album, also titled “The Walk,” they formed a partnership with TOMS Shoes, a Los Angeles-based shoe company whose motto is “one for one.” For each pair of shoes sold, a pair goes to a child without. Last year, TOMS delivered 50,000 shoes to Africa with Hanson’s help.
Before each walk they encourage each person to take their shoes off and walk the mile barefoot. It’s a simple action, yet so many people have trouble kneeling down and untying those laces-including myself. In fact, I didn’t take my shoes off this time. I was too afraid of what I could step on, what germs I was going to expose myself to, how cold it was, and how many people were going to trample all over my feet. I’m a wimp, I know.
I have, however, had the experience of taking the walk barefoot, in Allentown, Pa., and it is an eye-opening experience. At first, it didn’t strike me as a big deal: I didn’t think it was a big feat for me to walk through the city without shoes. But about halfway through the mile, after I had stubbed by toe on a broken sidewalk, just narrowly avoided stepping on shattered glass, and my feet started ache, I started to understand the gravity of a pair of shoes. How many of us slide into our shoes as we run out the door? We don’t even think about it, it’s just we do-we put on shoes before we go out, it’s simply a necessity. There are people out there who have the need but don’t have the means. They need shoes; they need a cure; they need help. Those are the people we need to reach out to. Those are the people that we walk for. For each registered walker’s mile, Hanson donates $1 on their behalf to a cause of their choice. The causes range from providing education, healthcare, and clean water, to providing shoes and AIDS treatment and research.
Without having seen the desperation of the situation face to face, its hard to believe that it exists, that something this horrible can really be happening, right now, as you’re reading. At the Allentown walk, Taylor Hanson said, “We came to the realization that we, especially as a whole generation of people, we often think, as connected as we are and as able as we are, that we don’t have a role to play in making an impact on the world, and for that matter, things that aren’t in front of us-they’re really not our problem. But believe me, history has never seen a disease like AIDS. The engine of society is dying-it’s you guys. It’s us.”
These walks have made me want to make a difference. I want to be part of the solution. It takes about 33 cents to provide a pregnant, HIV-positive woman with a vaccination that will prevent her from passing the disease to her unborn child. We can all afford to give 33 cents. It’s really as simple as that.
During the concert that followed the New York City walk, Taylor spoke of a memorable experience from South Africa, and I wanted to share it because it really moved me: “One of the things we saw in Africa were graveyards where in whole sections, the graves are this big,” he held his hands about three feet apart, “because the next generation of kids has already said goodbye. They’re born with a disease that gives them only three years to live.”
I don’t want to look back, years from now, and know that I sat in my dorm room here at the University and did nothing to fight this problem. I encourage everyone to go to takethewalk.net and see how you can help.
And if Hanson comes to your neck of the woods, go out and take the walk with them. It’s completely free and you don’t have to be a fan or like their music. It’s not about them, it’s about the cause. Get your mile registered and save a life with the dollar you raised. Get your feet dirty.
Megan Michler is a sophomore public relations student. You may e-mail her at [email protected].