Shoes for Africa Charity
Shoes for Africa takes second hand children’s shoes from the UK to help children in the townships of South Africa. Two things are astounding about children’s shoes: how much they cost and how quickly they are grown out of. No effective method of recycling exists. We won’t put second hand shoes on the feet of other children in the family. We see some shoe bins around but few are designed for children’s shoes and, anyway, where do they end up? Is there an opportunity to recycle these shoes while showing our children that they can help other, less fortunate children elsewhere in the world? There absolutely is.

South Africa is a country of contrasts. On leaving Cape Town airport for The Beach House you will notice a number of shanty town shacks on either side of the road. What you probably won’t realise is that this is home to 1 million people…and this is just one of many settlements around the City.

The children growing up in these townships will help shape the future of the country. A good education is the alternative to a living a life of poverty in a shanty town. Shoes don’t educate children but they can provide an incentive to attend school (because that’s where our shoes are given out.) Shoes also give enormous self esteem and, of course, provide protection for young feet.

So how does it work? We take used children’s shoes and literally place them on the feet of children in Cape Town. The shoes must be a source of pride to those who end up wearing them so we take only those that are clean and polished Given the education focus could we also only take school shoes, training shoes and sports shoes please. Shoes are deposited in the shoe containers in school foyers. The Shoes for Africa team do the rest. There is no financial cost to the school.

For this project to have real impact we need thousands of pairs of shoes for the children of Cape Town. So far in 2005 alone we have shipped 2300 pairs of quality shoes by working with 13 schools.

At the moment we work exclusively with schools in and around West Sussex. To expand the size of the project we need individuals who will set up their own school network elsewhere in the country. The main cost is time as the shoe containers all costs are paid for by the charity.

For information on how you can help please contact the Shoes for Africa team: Email:

Email: dtreacher@gofts.freeserve.co.uk
Telephone: 0044 (0) 1798 342987
 
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