In Iraq, thousands of Kurdish children suffer from life-threatening congenital heart disease. These children can receive a new lease on life through surgery, but because of war, corruption, and lack of resources, surgery is simply an unattainable dream for most of them, and thousands of families must face the reality that their children will soon die. There is not enough charitable funding to pay for surgeries for these kids, and the operations must be performed outside of Iraq, making things that much harder. But fortunately, that is no longer the end of the story.
Enter Preemptive Love Coalition.
Preemptive Love is a group working in northern Iraq to help children get otherwise-unattainable life-saving heart surgeries. Working in the region since 2007, Preemptive Love has helped over 50 children receive surgery, and one way they have done this is by partnering with local Kurdish craftsmen who make shoes called Klash. Klash are traditional, handmade Kurdish shoes, and by selling these shoes to customers around the world, Preemptive Love puts consumer dollars to work to fund surgeries for Kurdish children and give them new hope for the future.
No, they’re not paying me to endorse them here, and they haven’t even asked me to. I just personally love what this group is doing, and I’ve been working on some images of the Klash this week. I have a pair of my own that I wear, but after photographing them, I can’t help but say again that these are some seriously awesome shoes!
Making handmade Klash is a unique, 3,000 year old skill, practiced only by craftsmen in Kurdistan
No machines are used whatsoever in the making of these shoes, and they contain no rubber or plastic
They are hand-stitched from beginning to end, made with care and attention, knot by knot
Even the soles are made by hand from countless strips of fabric
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by nicoleg
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