Girl’s Shoes on a Little Boy
January 31, 2008
© 2008 Greg Kendall-Ball
Yesterday, someone asked me if the child wearing these shoes (seen in other pics) was a little boy or a little girl. I explained they were probably girl’s shoes, but were being worn by a little boy.
I find myself disinclined to give one long, comprehensive statement of my trip and what I experienced. It would be too hard to do it justice: to find some unifying theme, to decide which parts were “important” and which could be excluded. Instead, I’d rather be disorganized, and just post as thoughts come to me, or as I remember certain episodes or insights.
And when looking at this picture, I am reminded that when you make roughly $150 a month (which is actually a pretty decent wage, all things considered- trained teachers, for instance, only make about $120 a month), gender-specific clothing is sometimes a luxury you can’t afford. The markets and shops are filled with second-hand, discarded clothes and shoes (mostly from Western countries), and when your child needs shoes, sometimes you just buy what you can afford.
On this trip, as on others, it was the vast differences that were so striking. Differences in language, food, culture, smells, values, etc. stood out because the contrast was so strong. But, I became convinced on this trip that it’s not our differences which are the most important thing…
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