No matter how hard we try to hide it, there are days when we are struck by the overwhelming feeling that our lives, however beautiful and enviable, are missing something essential.
Instead of chasing this feeling away, as most of us do, Samuel Bistrian quit his high-paying job and brought to life an idea that has given him more satisfaction than he could have ever imagined.
“Sir, can you get my brother a size 34?”
Red, blue or yellow, Samuel’s rubber boots are worn by tens of thousands of poor children around the world. Warm and durable, they are a treasure for all those children in rural areas where mud and cold penetrate the cheap shoes their parents can afford. Seeing the joy on the children’s faces when they receive their boots, dyed in the colours of the Romanian flag, reminds Samuel of his own childhood.
Born in Benești, a village in Arad County, Samuel Bistrian is the ninth of 12 children. No matter how hard they tried, his parents couldn’t financially provide for the family, and Samuel remembers that they didn’t have the clothes they needed and often went to bed hungry. The day he received his first pair of wellies was memorable. They were orange and faded because they had belonged to his brother, but that didn’t matter. The important thing was that he could play or work in the fields without getting his feet wet.
The family’s life took a different turn after the Romanian Revolution of ’89, when they managed to emigrate to the US with the help of acquaintances in Chicago. Samuel was eight at the time. They moved several times, from Chicago to Tennessee and then to Texas, where they stayed in a house provided by Habitat for Humanity. It wasn’t easy, but the children had been taught by their parents to be responsible and generous. From their modest resources, they sent clothes and shoes to friends who had stayed behind.
The first time he returned to Romania, he was 18, a student and working for an airline. He remembered little of his homeland, but he had not forgotten the language. He visited several places and was struck by their beauty. Nevertheless, a permanent return was not in his plans. At 25, Samuel was living the American dream. He was married, had just bought a house and had an enviable job as manager of the exclusive Neiman Marcus fur shop. From the outside, he seemed to have everything. The hungry, barefoot child was long gone.
But on the inside, things were different. “I felt so empty inside. I thought there must be more to life than this”. But he didn’t know where to turn or what to do to fill that void.
The idea that changed his life came from a shoe manufacturer. For every pair sold, he would donate a pair to people in need. When he met Blake Mycoskie, the founder of the non-profit company that did this, Samuel remembered his first pair of gumboots. He thought of the children w ho were freezing in the cold, just as he had suffered in the past, and decided to start a buy-one-give-one business. He travelled to China with a friend to find a company to manufacture the boots and, with the help of a friend, created the design and name. Thus Roma Boots were born. The idea for the name came from the Spanish word amor (love), spelt backwards, which also suited Romania, his home country, and those he wanted to help, mainly Roma children. A pair of boots cost between $40 and $90, and for every pair sold, a pair was made for a child in need.
Unfortunately, things went very badly at first and he soon ran up a lot of debt. But he never gave up on his dream. He worked 17 hours a day, sold his car and other valuables on eBay and began to live more simply in order to save more money. After much hard work, the first batch of boots arrived in Romania in 2010, in the county of Călăraşi. The happiness of the children and the joy with which the 5,000 pairs of boots were received gave him the courage to continue.
Although he never advertised his initiative, Samuel’s idea became famous in his hometown of Dallas. The friends he had made at Neiman Marcus did not stand idly by, but helped in any way they could. Thanks to them, the company was supported by superstars who spread the story of the boots in the press. Brad Garrett, Alison Sweeney and Laura Bush are just a few of the people who helped introduce the Roma boot to the American public.
On his second trip to Romania, he realised that while his help was important to these children, it would not be enough in the long run. So he began to get involved in supporting the education of children in these communities. He spoke to the mayors, renovated or built classrooms and brought educational materials for the children. As things got better, he decided to help children in other countries as well. Today, Samuel’s boots have reached over 30,000 children in 25 countries, including Moldova, Nepal, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Today, Samuel’s wish is to motivate as many people as possible to take the initiative to change the things that touch their hearts. “They need some sort of spark. To get started, to see that they can do something. For a long time I didn’t think I could. But I can! Everyone can do something. All you need is initiative.”
As he beautifully sums it up: “Every person, at the end of their life, meditates and asks themselves: Has my life been meaningful? Have I left my mark on the world? When I see what I can do, even for a single child, I am filled with a joy that I cannot explain.”
