One day without shoes

Today is international One day without shoes day:

Last week we received a notice from the boys school urging the learners and parents to take part in and support the International One day without shoes day and Campaign.

The aim of the day is know what it is like to walk a day in the life of the children of the world who cannot afford shoes, who have to go everyday through summer and winter over rocky paths day in and day out walking to school without anything on their feet, I cannot imagine what this is like.


In South Africa we are fairly lucky to have a warmer climate or at least Cape Town does and I do tend to go barefoot more often and not, but choosing to go barefoot and having no other option are completely different and it breaks my heart to think that while we are lucky enough to have shoes amongst other things, there are children out there my kids age who have to go without.

Aside from spending a day in the feet of those kids the point is also to donate a pair of worn or unworn shoes SALT which will then be distributed to children in need.

Now being the dead of winter I did not allow the boys to go to school without shoes simply because while I feel they need to understand how lucky they are and what those kids go through I cannot afford to sit with 2 sick kids in a weeks time, but we did spend time going over the meaning of the day as well as they each took a pair of shoes in to school this morning to donate, it is always times like these that make you look at your life and realize that you have so much compared to others, even if you struggle even if you are tired, sad frustrated you can always do something to make someone else's life a little brighter.

 The information below was taken off the site:

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/one-day-without-shoes-day/

The History of One Day Without Shoes Day

One Day Without Shoes Day was created by the Californian company Toms Shoes to encourage people to pay more attention to the numerous problems a lack of shoes can cause in the lives of impoverished children. It all started when Blake Mycoskie, the owner of Toms Shoes, visited Argentina in 2006 and noticed that many of the children were running through the streets barefooted. Soon, he discovered that a lack of shoes was a wider problem in Argentina as well as other developing countries and he decided that he wanted to use his shoe company to help them, especially because the lack of shoes often had a serious impact on those childrens’ lives by discouraging them from attending school and making it much easier for them to contract various infections. Mycoskie then came up with the “one for one” business model, meaning that for every pair of shoes his company sold, it would provide a new pair of shoes free of charge to the shoeless youth of Argentina and other developing countries. The first 10,000 pairs of free shoes were distributed in to Argentinian children in October 2006.

How to Celebrate One Day Without Shoes Day

The best way to celebrate this day is to make the decision to go without shoes for a day just so you can see for yourself how much a few pieces of leather and rubber can change a life for the better. You could also convince a few friends or family members to do the same—the more people become aware of the problem, the better. Of course, you could also make a point of purchasing a pair of shoes from Toms so another pair can be donated to an impoverished child somewhere. If you don’t need another pair of shoes, you can go through your closet in search of both shoes and clothes you don’t wear anymore that are still in good condition and then donate them directly to organizations devoted to helping clothe the less fortunate. Any little thing you do can help!

I unfortunately could not find much information about the South African side of the initiative but I do encourage everyone even if not today go through your kids things find a pair just one pair of shoes if you can and donate them that one pair can do so much it really can.