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TIT-BITS

THIS TYPE OF SHOES CAN ONLY BE

FOUND IN JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN...

Since the shutdown of oil production in January last year, parked the car and had a chat with him; this chat touched my
the economic situation has been hard especially for the heart and I want to share it with you as it keeps haunting me.
youth but as Larco Lomayat observes, despite the hard I asked the young man why he wore this kind of shoes; (Mutu
economic situation, the youth can be creative and make use Keli Juba Arabic) in English means “Die and Leave”! The
of the available resources to make a better living instead of young man responded respectfully and I quote “Uncle, I have
complaining. no any other shoes except what I have on now! You know, I
found thrown away car tyre that is not in use and it turned
out to be my treasured material. Creatively I was able to fix
myself these Mutu Keli (Die and Leave Tyre Sandals), which
I am wearing now”. I was astounded and impressed with his
honesty.
As young as he was, deprived from wearing normal shoes
because of poverty, the
young man had decided
to be creative and fixed
himself the Tyre Sandals/
Mutu Keli. What an
innovative and creative
way of dealing with
“poverty”
The young man finally
stated again, and I quote
“Uncle I am happy with
what I have now because
this is what I can afford
Mutu Keli Sandals in Juba. [Photo: Larco Lomayat] for now and I can’t envy
anyone, but to embrace
what I have”.
For the above reasons, I felt compelled to share with you my
chat with this young man. This is because when I examine
myself, our communities, as well as our young country at large;
do we have the heart of this young man? Are we creative and
innovative enough to put up with the little we have, and not
to envy? Do we focus on peace, love and prosperity and not
It was on Sunday, December 16, 2012 at about 4:00 pm when greed? Let’s all stand together to have this young man enjoy the
I was driving from Malakia (if you are familiar with Juba fruits of our “New young Country as we continue pulling out
town) to the Airport to pick up a friend who was coming from from “Poverty”?
abroad; on nearly just reaching nearby Juba Teaching Hospital,
I saw this young man in the picture walking in his tyre sandals.
His Mutu Keli/Tyre Sandals caught my attention. I stopped,

56 | Gurtong Focus Monthly February 2013