This morning was the first day that exhaustion set it. My roommate (who is one of the most beautiful people inside and out) and I could not go to sleep last night. We stayed up and watched the New York City Marathon on television... for two hours...
On the way to our first shoe drop of the day, we had a plug on the Port Elizabeth 9 am radio spot. They talked about TOMS and how we were giving shoes to thousands of kids in the community!
We went to 2 shanty towns this morning.The houses are made from scraps of metal, barely standing, but sometimes you will see a BMW sitting in the driveway... We heard that a lot of the people actually make a decent amount of money, but will spend it on alcohol, cars, etc. rather than education, clothing and food for their children. Again, the drops are getting more and more organized. It would be a lot easier just to hand them a pair of shoes, but it is so important to us to place them on each child's feet. It is an intimate experience between you and that child as you pull out a brand new pair of shoes, place them on their feet, and wait for that smile to appear. They especially love that they are wearing the same pair of shoes that we are.
Next, we went to a pre-school. There is about 130 kids in the school with four women there to take care of all of them. I stayed in the toddler room with about 15 babies under the age of two. The woman there was nothing less than an angel. She never stopped changing diapers or feeding during the two hours I was there. Sometimes kids would start crying, but would stop the second one of us would pick him or her up. They just needed to be touched. Blake actually got thrown up on!
For the rest of the day, we went to a sports bar to eat and just be together. There was a make-shift driving range out back where bets were made and dignity lost. We relaxed, continued to get to know each better and met some locals.
This trip has been amazing so far! I am so blessed to be able to come here and meet with these people. We are flying to Durban tonight and are not sure the next time we will have internet. Stay Tuned!
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5 comments:
im so excited to read your blog and stay updated. my pair of shoes is getting delivered on this trip!!!!
I'm really jealous of you all right now. But I'm doing my part back here in the states. If you don't know, I'm THE Craig "Blindspot" Mycoskie, the most famous freestyle walker in the world. By updating Freestylewalking.org, sponsored by Tomshoes, I hope I have driven a little more traffic to the Tomsshoes website. Keep up the good work. Walk on.
I admire the hard work you guys are doing in those countries. You really do take changing the world one "step" at a time. Keep it up. By the way the shoes look awsome.
Eagerly awaiting the next post...
I love my Toms shoes! I have been telling everyone about them and why everyone should get a pair. I am going to try and get involved on the next drop and am definetly getting my whole family a pair for christmas that way the kids feet won't get cold. PEACE!
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