A single pair of shoes…

Many times we don’t think about them, but we use them every day or even multiple pairs a day. They are part of our routine when we get ready to leave the house we put on a pair of shoes. Now I know I am guilty of this but we spend tons of money on the latest styles or new trends when our old pair of shoes that are still in good condition would work perfectly. However what would it be like if we didn’t have a pair of shoes? I mean if we all had to depend on only two pairs of shoes and our everyday pair disappeared. Well this happens and sometimes on a regular basis in many areas.

                Now giving a little background when we came to the centre we were overwhelmed by the rush of little kids. Each and every one of these little kids wanted to be our friends, but soon it became clear to each of us that there were a few kids that needed something more than a friend. They needed someone to be there when they came home for school that would pick them up and ask them about their day or go and eat supper with them. Well Robert is the one kid that stood out to me from the first day. He grabbed my hand and showed me around the centre and asked me to help him with his math homework from school. I knew from that moment that this kid was special, and I could not wait to spend the whole summer getting to know him.

                Now I have gotten to know Robert really well and it was amazing to see he is at the top of his class in school and is amazing at acrobats. In the middle of last week I had to the privilege to sit in on the centre’s acrobatics class, which Roberts a member of. At the end of class he came and jumped on my back to give him a piggy back ride. As custom with the class you take off your shoes before you enter the classroom. Heading out of the room I am putting on my sandals and ask Robert where his shoes are… Well he said that while he was at school someone took his shoes so he didn’t have any to wear and his school shoes were falling apart and he needed to keep them nice. So now he has to walk around the centre barefoot until he is able to get a new pair which is hard to tell when that will happen.

                This shocked me. I mean I have never had to worry about if I had a pair of shoes let alone a simple pair of sandals. The thing that is hardest is that I can’t just buy him a pair of sandals because we must let the kids earn them and not give them hand-outs. This theory is that when the children have to earn items so when they enter the world they know there is not a free lunch. Luckily the Centre is a community and several other kids let him borrow their shoes until he is able to get a new pair.

                Now I know this is just one sad story and there are many out there, but we need to learn from this story and the stories that are similar. We have to be conscious about what is happening in our world and how we are at times so wasteful in our daily lives. We hear this but sometimes it doesn’t sink in until we experience this first hand. Now there are ways we can help out the centre and children in this community, but the best way is to be conscious of the needs. We need to grow as people and try our best as citizens to help out in our daily lives by not being wasteful and supporting causes that are trying to give education to children or improving agriculture throughout the world. Doing this we may work to create a world where a child would not have worry about having a pair of shoes stolen or ruined.