How to Shop for 100+ Pairs of Shoes in Uganda
We had to share this fun story with you. You might wonder how you
would figure out shoe sizes and shop for so many kids without an official measuring tool. Well, ingenuity isn’t lacking in Uganda. As you can see from the photo, they actually take sticks and break them while holding them next to the feet of the children. They then wrap the child’s name around the stick. Then, they take the sticks to the market and insert the sticks into the shoes until they find a stick that fits into the pair of shoes. Once they find the pair of shoes that the stick fits in, they leave the stick in the shoe, purchase the pair and bring them back to the kids. Have you ever seen anything like that in your life. What a great idea! It is amazing how simple complex tasks can be made when you are dealing with hundreds of children.
Speaking of shoes thank you so much to those of you who donated so many pairs of shoes. The kids are very excited about
getting some new play shoes. We also need to purchase over 100 kids new shoes for school. When children don’t have black shoes that are designed for school, they actually have to go bare foot. They cannot wear tennis shoes or sandals to school. You might remember that we purchased some last year but they have been outgrown and torn apart over the previous year. Each pair of shoes is approximately $10. Would you like to be a part of providing a new pair of school shoes for a child in Uganda? It is such a simple and inexpensive donation that is such an incredibly huge deal for the kids. Can we work together and buy them tomorrow! Please consider purchasing a pair of shoes for one or several children. When we purchase them, we will send some photos showing your purchase.
To make a donation for shoes, please click here to make a tax deductible donation on our website and just write a note in the comment section that says “Shoes.” We will make sure that 100% of your donation goes to this project. You can also mail a check to: Show Mercy International, PO Box 607, Albany, Oregon 97321. If you send a check, please email us and let us know since we are out of the office for the next couple of weeks. Thanks in advance for helping us make this coming school year special for many children who don’t have parents to purchase their school clothing and shoes.
Mike and Lori Salley
www.showmercy.org
The above sentence is all I was able to write on my notepad after my first day at Hope Children’s Home and traveling through Gganda village in Uganda. I was not lacking in words, or images—I was already experiencing “sensory overload” from the sights, sounds, smells and many touches of the day! I had cried several times and was moved beyond what I had even imagined I would be so early on in the trip. My shortage of words was simply my heart’s need to process the events of the day more fully. I was somewhat prepared for the life-impacting experience I was coming to Uganda for and I would have been disappointed had I not already felt something happening within me. But what was this wonderful new place in my heart? I thanked God that although I didn’t really know WHAT he was doing in my heart, I was feeling it being enlarged by what I was seeing and feeling. In the night I awakened and heard the Lord speak the word: “calibration.” When I asked Him to explain what he meant, He told me that He was calibrating my heart to feel as His heart feels. Yes, Lord, that is what I want—your heart for these children, this amazing village and the country of Africa where His kingdom IS coming.
This is a place the villagers call “Paradise.” You might not recognize it as such. There is red dirt and amazing mud, and lots of it used for brick making. There are children with many needs. The village is filled with lack. The classrooms are much like places where we could keep livestock, simply constructed from boards the breeze can blow through with only crude benches and desks and chalkboards in need of replacing. But as we say here: TIA—This is Africa, but here the glass is half full. These children have been pulled from horrific circumstances and life has never been better for them. As Stephen toured me through the school, tears welled up in me again. As I stood in one of the bedrooms where triple bunks had made way for more children I was overcome with a love of this place, of these children. Oh, the beauty that is in the simplicity here. We ARE in paradise! How can this be in a place where there is so much lack and we all want to see so much more done?! It is paradise because LOVE is here and we are graciously permitted to have a greater portion of God’s heart! You must come and experience God here!