These shoes are made for walking…”Doing our fair share” on Syria – in Godsown.

by Kennedy Graham

So the shoes adorn my office.  They still carry the dust of Syria, yet they managed to please the NZ Customs people at Auckland airport sufficiently to slip through, as the saying goes.  Clearly not a threat to kiwifruit.

The shoes, which are now Kiwi-Syrian, have taken up position on my cabinet desk near the window, resting, after their lengthy land journey and sub-orbital flight around planet Earth. They look down on the 9th floor of the Beehive.  And out across the harbour, to the north.

Wellington, of course, is latitude 41°17’20” South, longitude 174°46’38” East.  Ramtha refugee camp in Jordan is 32°33’0” North, longitude 35°51’0” East.  Connecting the two dots on the globe is not only a geographical task; it is now a geo-political one.  And the task is underway.

For in response to a radio interview, a Kiwi woman has contacted me from Nelson.  Alison Croft is about to undertake a marathon walk to raise money for (Christian) Syrians.  She has raised $1,065 to date.  She would like to have the shoes.

They are on their way to Nelson – by courier, they deserve a break.  I have promised $100 to her cause.

I have asked her to generate interest among others to do the same.  I have promised $25 to anyone who does a marathon walk carrying the shoes around their neck, and $50 to anyone who wears them.  Perhaps it is a fond hope, but might the shoes do the length of Aotearoa?

And then they need to come back ‘home’ from where they can look down again on the 9th floor.  This has become their natural abode.  They like it here.

Yesterday I took a call, left on my answer machine.  It was from Syria.  It was my close friend, the part-owner of the shoes.  He said his name – I think Al-razeel.  He did not leave a return number. But I think I know how to get back to him.  I shall try.

The day before, the Syrian regime massacred 108 at Houla.  That may be the game changer.

Maybe, some shoes will start walking through Syria before long, cleaning up the mess there.

You keep saying you’ve got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You’ve been a messin’ where you shouldn’t have been a messin’
and now someone else is gettin’ all your best.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin’
and you keep losin’ when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin’ when you oughta be a changin’.
Now what’s right is right, but you ain’t been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be a playin
and you keep thinkin’ that you’ll never get burnt.
Ha!
I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he knows you ain’t HAD time to learn.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

Are you ready boots? Start walkin’!