Then came the embarrassing part of shoe shopping. We had to try on the shoes. With our bare feet now exposed in front of Jirada, they looked even nastier with mud stuck between the toes and our heels cracked (miatuka) you could hide a coin in them.
Jirada knew there was no way we could put those dirty feet inside the new shoes. She brought plastic bags to put on our feet, then we tried the shoes on. She pressed the front part of the shoes with her thumb to feel where our big toe reached. Jirada always reminded us that a well fitting shoe should not have the big toe pressing on the front of the shoe. There should be some little space left for wiggling the toes.
Once she established the shoes fitted well, one by one she asked us to walk around the shop to be sure the shoes were comfortable. We now looked like a bunch of Baboons following one another in a single file as Jirada inspected our gait. Since we had not worn new shoes for a while, we walked funny like we had jiggers (ndutu) on our feet. Jirada kept encouraging us “kinya wega” translation, step properly.
Regardless of the ordeal, we were happy to go home with our new shoes.
