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Week of Jan. 3, 2009

Buy Shoes, Save Lives
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Former aid worker Jeremy Courtney says malnutrition and gas attacks by Iraq's Saddam Hussein left hundreds of Kurdish children with genetic heart defects. Courtney wanted to help them. He tells host Peggy Wehmeyer how he created a Web site to sell an ancient form of Kurdish footwear for $100 a pair. The money is used to send children to Jordan and Israel for heart surgery.

When Muslim families come face-to-face with Jewish doctors, Courtney says old animosities evaporate because a child's life is at stake. In its first seven months of operation, the site raised $16,000 — enough to get 20 children scheduled for heart surgery.

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