As you buy your child school shoes, have you ever thought how many children go to school barefoot because their families cannot afford shoes?
In Africa, a pair of school shoes can often cost more than one week’s wages – and many children grow up having never owned a pair of shoes, according to The Put Foot Foundation, a public beneficiary organisation that aims to give dignity to children through the gift of a pair of new school shoes for children throughout Africa.
Shoes help to prevent the spread of parasitic infections such as hookworm and threadworm. Walking barefoot also exposes children to serious infection from contaminated soil – cuts and sores become infected, leading to ulcers, amputation and sometimes even death. So shoes are important.
With the number of orphans in South Africa now reaching 2.5 million, the number of children who cannot afford shoes is growing. Many are unable to attend school because shoes are a uniform requirement.
Now several young Durbanites are joining a fund-raising rally through several African countries next month to support the foundation and help get more shoes on little feet. Besides raising money for the Put Foot Foundation, the rally will also raise funds for Project Rhino.
Last year, 448 rhinos were killed and this year the figure is already over 200.
It is hoped that enough money will be raised to sponsor two anti-poaching rhino units for Project Rhino and 600 pairs of shoes for the Put Foot Foundation.
Gordon McTavish, Meegan Rourke, Andrew McGill and Louise Gans have formed Team Shake & Bake and they are one of 60 teams in South Africa, including 11 from Durban, who will be making a 7 000km journey across six African countries over 17 days. The suggested route is via Etosha in Namibia, Zambia’s Victoria Falls, Kariba Dam in Zimbabwe, Lake Malawi and Mozambique.
“I’d always wanted to see more of the continent we call ‘home’,” said Meegan, a creative director. “I think I was instinctively waiting for an opportunity like this.”
There is no vehicle specification and entrants may drive any car of their fancy from a mini or a VW van to an old Toyota or a Mercedes Benz sedan – and Shake & Bake have had a vehicle sponsored.
The pressure is on for them to raise R50 000 – their personal target – for the two deserving causes.
Shake & Bake crew supporter, Kerry-Lee van Heerden, has started a Facebook page called “R28 000 by my 28th Birthday” and she is encouraging 280 people to donate R100 instead of giving her birthday presents on her birthday on June 10.
Rally founder, Daryn Hillhouse, said although the Put Foot Rally had a charity component, it was primarily a rally. He had combined the concepts of the UK-based Mongol Rally and the Gum Ball 3 000 to create the Put Foot Rally, and this year about 230 people will hit the open road, leaving from Johannesburg and Cape Town on June 20, in crews of between three and five members in 60 vehicles.
For more information on how to sponsor, see www.shakebakecrew.co.za