Kids in Swaziland walk around in bare feet. And not just in Swazi, because I’ve seen lots of kids all over the world this year, most of whom were in bare feet. The thought had registered previously in my mind that very few of the kids had shoes, and that meant they walked over, on, and through all sorts of disgusting things on a daily basis. But until Swaziland, it never occurred to me how horrible it must be to not own shoes. As part of our ministry last week we partnered with Pastor Gift who is overseeing several care points in his district. Several of the days were spent playing soccer with some (well lots, really) of the children in the area, either on the rocks behind the center or on the field next to it. The few parts of the fi
eld that weren’t just dirt were covered in thorn bushes with inch-long thorns. Johnny played in sandals one day and can attest to the fact that the thorns hurt. The rest of the field was mud which, having subsequently been baked in the intense African sun, was brittle and sharp. Somehow these kids run up and down that field in their bare feet without flinching. I’d have trouble tip-toeing across it with socks on.
So on our last day there I was ecstatic to get to participate in a shoe drive. The ministry there had been given a HUGE donation of brand new Nike shoes, and we were the lucky group who got to present them to the community. We set up several washing stations where one by one we washed a child’s feet. Believe me when I say that you have never seen such dirty water. It was disgusting and yet satisfying. After their feet were clean, they were fitted with a new pair of shoes. The older kids who could wear a size 7 or above got one of three different Nike’s, while the younger children got crocks. We would then pray with the child before sending them bouncing away on their new cushioned footwear. My favorite were the teenagers (the care point only went up to 14 years old). They would try and be cool, acting non-chalant about getting these new shoes, but they couldn’t hide their saucer-sized eyes. Josh B. and I tried to play the entire thing up, acting like these were the best shoes ever and that the kids looked like rock stars in them. Invariably the cool would give way to a huge grin. Each of those guys walked away different than they had come. Their heads were a little higher, their chests were a little puffed out, and their steps were a little more confident. It’s a strange thing to think that the entire path of a young person’s life could have been eternally altered by a simple pair of Nike’s.
We probably put on close to 500 pairs of new shoes that day, and each one of them looked the best.
