A Great Need for School Shoes for Community Children

For the Christmas Appeal this year, we asked the social workers in Uganda to make a Christmas list based on the needs of the children. One of the items on that list was 21 Pairs of school shoes for 21 community children supported on the Community Education Support Project.

We talked to Olivia (Social Worker and Project Manager at Victory Child Care Project in Uganda) to find out why they had asked for the shoes…

Last year during the Christmas outing to the water park for the Christmas Party, most of the children supported on the Community Education Support Project (CESP) had no shoes, and we had to first bring them to the Children’s Home and borrow shoes for them.

Often, there are times when Juliette (Education Support Officer) and Brian (Social Worker and Education Coordinator) go to school and find some of the children in bare feet, while others are wearing torn shoes, some with their toes sticking out. Last year, when the children in our care had new shoes, we decided to help the CESP children by making repairs for some of the damaged shoes, which we then gave to some of the CESP children, but since the shoes were already too old, they did not last even a half of the term.

It is very uncomfortable stepping on marram stones or mud in bare feet, especially early in the morning on a rainy day, but these children go through it every day. They admire others whose parents can afford shoes, but due to the extreme poverty in their homes, some basic needs are forfeited to meet the most pressing needs at the time - shoes are usually looked on as a luxury in such families.

Therefore, based on the above reasons, I recommend that money is raised to support these children by providing them with a pair of school shoes.

A good pair of school shoes can be purchased in Uganda for just £15.

You can help provide these children with the shoes they need, please, donate now!