Kiana Gibson, a second-year nutrition and dietetics master’s student, jokingly refers to her time training with a local Ethiopian running club as “running far behind them.”
Gibson, a runner on the UBC cross-country and track and field teams, spent her 2022 winter break in Addis Ababa, where her mother is working for the Canadian Embassy. When visiting, she wanted to continue training, so her mom helped arrange logistics of temporarily joining a local club. During her time there, she saw firsthand the lack of access to quality shoes the runners were faced with. Gibson recognized an opportunity to make a tangible difference when she went back in December 2023.
She decided to run a shoe drive for gently used athletic shoes.
“I don't like when things go to waste,” she said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity to divert shoes that often just get piled up in people's closet[s] and give them to people that maybe can't afford their own shoes because running shoes can be pretty expensive.”
Gibson described this initiative as a team effort and said she’s “just the one who happens to have a mom who works in Ethiopia and lugged a bunch of suitcases around.” Athletes from the UBC cross-country and track and field teams donated their shoes and head coach Laurier Primeau covered luggage fees.
This grassroots initiative resulted in the collection of 85 pairs of running shoes, with at least 10 pairs of shoes donated by Vancouver-based brand Hettas.
Hettas is developing running shoes specifically designed for female runners’ anatomy and physiology. Founder, CEO and UBC alum Lindsay Housman pointed out Gibson's care in planning and executing this initiative.
“I loved that Kiana was very thoughtful about it,” she said. “I loved that this was a donation with a purpose going to a community that could really use them … she did the groundwork to understand that there was a need, they wanted help and that she could help.”
“It was really an opportunity for me to say thank you and to give back to the running community there in a very minuscule way,” said Gibson.
Transporting these shoes to Ethiopia presented logistical hurdles, from language barriers to airline baggage policies and the physical challenge of transporting so many shoes across continents.
Gibson delivered the shoes to the coach of the local Ethiopian club, who distributed the shoes. Every pair of shoes was claimed by a runner of the club. Asmerom, a member of the club and Gibson’s guide in Ethiopia, expressed the group's gratitude.
“Some of the smaller sizes, people were bringing to their children, which was really cool.”
Gibson’s initiative shows sport’s ability to transcend borders. From the contribution of the UBC varsity teams to the donation from Hettas, this drive showcased the strength of the Vancouver running community.
“That's something amazing about running,” Gibson said. “There's an immediate connection when you know other people who run or you understand even though they might not have met anyone on this club in Ethiopia that there's a mutual understanding of why we love this sport and shoes are a very small part of that.”