Small steps can make big change.
Laura Chauvin, founder of Her Best Foot Forward, started her project two-and-half years ago, after buying a pair of beaded sandals.
“When I came back to the United States, everybody asks me where I got my shoes,” said Chauvin.
After thinking about the best way to bring people closer to her projects, she decided to focus on clean water, women and children’s health; all factors that are essential to her country in Tanzania, East Africa.
Her sandals project, where they sell beaded sandals, was the perfect way to address those issues.
“It’s part of their tradition and their culture to use beads,” Chauvin said. “So this keeps a tradition alive but in a kind of new way.”
Sandals sell at different prices from $2 to $60, depending on who sells them and in what situation.
“We will have high school girls that will bring them to their high school and they’ll have a big sale or they will have a pass where they get to be out of uniform for the day. So everybody puts in two dollars and then they take that and buy sandals with it,” she said.
Chauvin doesn’t care about the money itself. She only wants girls to realize they have enough power to affect others.
So far they’ve supported $15,000 in charitable projects for girls and women.
Chauvin still works in large community water projects and feeding programs.
In the future, she plans to start a project that provides sanitary pad technology to Tanzania.
