Once again South Africans are coming together to assist those in need with a campaign dubbed “Walk a Child to School”.
The school shoes donation intervention is led by two Stellenbosch based social change drivers, Abulele Adams and Wisaal Osman. The noble initiative was inspired by Adams mother who is also a teacher.
The compassionate teacher shared a girl in her class who walked with broken shoes to school throughout winter.
That painful story propelled Adams and Osman to start on the 5th of October Walk a Child to School campaign.
Walk a Child to School aim is to provide school shoes to children in need. The initiative receives donations from people who wish to make a difference in their communities.
Teachers identify the children at their school who need shoes.
Walk a Child to School collects the money, buys the shoes and hands it over to the children. The criterion for selecting children is purely social need. There are no academic requirements for any learner to get the shoes.
Adams said the funding reliant initiative plan is to handover shoes monthly to deserving schools throughout South Africa.
“The overall plan for Walk a Child to School is to provide children from various schools with school shoes monthly and perhaps expand that to other learning materials, e.g. stationery, school bag, school uniform, etc. Learners need to be encouraged to continue with school. Shoes should not be another barrier a learner must overcome in order to have a positive schooling experience.”
Co- founder Osman explained how the shoes are collected. “Ideally, we collect as many shoes are needed, but this is dependent on funding. We have completed a handover for 84 pairs of shoes at one school. At a different school we gave 30 pairs of shoes. It depends on the needs of the children at the school.”
Approximately 22 000 South African Candelas & over 200 pairs of shoes have been donated since the the beginning of the project late last year.
The first handover took place at Masakhane Primary School in Port Elizabeth, Abulele’s home town. Abulele’s mom is a Grade 1 teacher at the school. 64 pairs of school shoes were given to 64 very happy children!
Western Cape Department of Education and the District Director admitted that they are not aware of the project but would love to explore working relationship synergies.
The Department’s spokesperson Jessica Shelvier said “From what I have read, it sounds like an outstanding initiative and it’s encouraging to see former learners of the Western Cape driving such a great social initiative. We would love to receive more information about the project.”
Public members are encouraged to participate in the project by buy either buying shoes. There are no specific sizes or gender restrictions. Alternatively public can donate cash to the following bank details Abulele Adams, Capitec: 1348645057, bank code: 470010, Reference: Your name & surname
For more information, public can contact Abulele Adams & Wisaal Osman on walkachildtoschool@gmail.com
