What if your shoes grew along with you too? Imagine, what would it be like if one pair of shoes lasted you whole school life?! How fantastic would it have been, do you think, for children who cannot afford shoes?
Kenton Lee's marvellous invention took care of that problem.
He has invented shoes that grow over years so that you can easily wear it for about 5 years!
While, in 2007, working in an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, volunteer Kenton Lee noticed a girl's toes sticking out of cuts made in front of her shoes. A lot of children (who had shoes) were cutting off the fronts of their shoes to wear them comfortably.
Lee talked with the orphanage director. The director told him that the last shipment of donated shoes had come one year ago. So, naturally, the children had to improvise to save their feet from being cut. That was when Lee started thinking about something that would later become this amazing Shoes!
"I thought, wouldn't it be nice for them to have shoes that could adjust and expand?" Lee later said, "That was the spark."
So, he started transforming his idea into reality, and soon enough he got the result of his labour. The Shoes That Grow was born!
These shoes are made of ordinary materials – leather, compressed rubber, and snaps. No mechanical parts or gears to break. The belts and snaps are where the magic works. There are several slots which either make the shoes bigger or smaller, depending on how the straps are used.
These shoes are available in two categories, each having five sizes. The Small category is for children from the kindergarten to the 4th grade. And the Large is for those from the 5th grade to the 9th. One pair of shoes to last at least 5 years!
Transportation is easy as well. In a regular suitcase one can carry 50 pairs of them, which will not weigh even 50 pounds!
With the invention of these shoes, Lee has saved millions of children from infections. He has, literally, made a difference in their lives through this. His company, Because International, is working for the distribution of these shoes among those who are in need.
