Aras Arrives in Amman, Jordan!
A few weeks ago Buy Shoes. Save Lives. took stock of our assets, our debts, our inventory, and our projected future needs and determined that it was time to give a significant chunk of our money to a child named Aras from the Kurdish city of Halabja in Iraq.
Halabja now stands as an emblem of suffering for the Kurdish people; the site of Saddam Hussein’s March 16, 1988 gas attack against Kurds in which 5,000 died in one day.
It felt significant and symbolic to make our first child the child of the city whose scars are carried on today by children who suffer heart disease - nearly 20 years later - because of the gas attacks of that day.
We were nine and younger in 1988, and yet we feel our hands are dirty and that we am somehow complicit in the problems and pains of Aras’ people. $5,000 cannot repair decades of hurt - and decades to come - but as far as feelings go, it felt good to give our money away to Aras and his family.
Today Cody escorted a very nervous Aras and his mother to the airport, where they flew for the first time, and landed many delayed hours later in Amman, Jordan. They were greeted by one of the many partners in this endeavor, Shevet Achim. Aras should be headed on to Israel later this week for surgery.
We are nearly speechless at how amazing this has been. And we’re fairly certain we’ve received new hearts in this process, as well.
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