Cape Town - It started with a Facebook post by Litha Primary principal Dr Sedick du Toit with pictures of his pupils’ broken school shoes and the words "So this is what poverty looks like".
The post got a huge response from friends and former pupils of the long-time educator wanting to help.
One of these former pupils was IOL editor Riana Howa, who decided to amplify Du Toit's appeal by writing and publishing a story on the iol.co.za website as part of their #WeCareWednesdays campaign.
The response was phenomenal, with Du Toit collecting used shoes throughout the holidays, people and groups depositing money in the school’s account ranging from R50 to R11 000, and corporates pledging between 5 pairs and 100 pairs of shoes.
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On Wednesday CSI staff from The Foschini Group (TFG) were at the school in Gugulethu to hand over a cheque to buy new school shoes for the whole school ie. more than 680 pupils.
“We strongly believe that education is an important driver to uplift impoverished communities. More so, it is equally important to instill dignity in every learner by providing them with a school uniform.
"Every learner should have the right to receive good quality school shoes and a uniform despite their financial circumstances.”, says Mymoena Mooradd, CSI Manager at TFG.