Every step towards a better future counts
Eliminating the burden of sore, cold and tired feet of school going children in poverty stricken communities to provide them the opportunity to focus on education and a better future.
- +27 (074) 205 0083
- sarah@inmyshoesza.org
- patience@inmyshoesza.org
About Us
In My Shoes is a non-profit organization that strives to provide comfortable and durable school shoes for all school going children in poverty stricken communities in South Africa. With support of donors, volunteers and school uplifting programs we aim to identify public schools in the provinces within South Africa and to bring awareness of the need for school shoes and effective distribution.
With unemployment being the key driver to poverty UNICEF reported in the Children’s Rights to an Adequate Standard of Living" publication that In South Africa, 11.9 million children (64% of all children) live in income poverty stricken communities. The families in these communities focus in providing the bare minimum basics to the household with the focus being food and shelter.
In My Shoes wants work in partnership with donors to impact the lives of school going children and allow them to enjoy the benefits of protected feet from the cold in the winter seasons and also the joys of kicking a ball, running around without the worry of getting injured on happy summer days.
Our Work
In My Shoes is driven to reach out to poverty stricken communities that are far to reach and distances away form urban areas, these are villages, farming communities and in informal settlements where the existing conditions are a challenge to school going children. In My Shoes will work with the schools in these communities to identify the age, sex and grade of the children and their shoe sizes to ensure an effective exercise of donating shoes that fit comfortably. The donations can either be through individuals, groups or organizations. Each shoe box will be accompanied with a message of motivation and encouragement.
The shoe distributions will be an ongoing initiative and in this process In My Shoes will strive to come up with sustainable models to ensure an annual yearly supply of shoes to the children in the identified communities to achieve seeing the children through to the end of their matric.
In My Shoes aims over time to have mapped out the schools in the poverty-stricken communities to provide its donors with numbers and targets on schools to assist donors in fitting their personal drives on assisting with creating concrete impact. This will be made possible by the partnership with the schools, volunteers and donors who aim to alleviate the burden of no shoes vs the need to focus on education and future success for school children.
Initiative
In Addition to the shoe initiative, In My Shoes understands that there are more aspects that affect the livelihood of school going children such as the need for reading books to children promote foundational learning and promote literacy and also the need for sanitary pads for school going girls to reduce the numbers in school drop out because of challenges of accessing the basics needs for girls to get proper personal hygiene and sanitation through sanitary pads and also the softer more fundamental enablers such as stationary.
These aspects will serve as a compliment to the shoe distributions to ensure that there is a holistic approach to serving a community and also the children as individuals.
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