Help Build a Future for IDP Women & Children

Street Children

Up until now our focus has been on helping children living in rural villages. However, many of the larger cities in Africa are also filled with children who are going barefoot. Many are “street children” who are often seen standing in raw sewage, leaving them susceptible to the many diseases which can enter their bodies through cuts in their bare feet.

Mali & Uganda

Heeling Our World is planning on opening multi-use facilities which will serve these street children in a number of ways. They will serve as classroom space for training older children how to make shoes for themselves and for younger children. The facilities will also act as clinics where a few days a week these children will be treated for foot issues by medical staff. Our initial facilities are being planned for Bamako, Mali and for Jinja and Kampala, Uganda. We hope to have them operating by Summer, 2017.

U.S. Workshop

In the U.S. we are continuing our program of raising awareness about the plight of the barefoot children and offering an avenue for advocacy by making KLEM shoes. We recently held a shoe making workshop hosted by the East Carolina Episcopal Diocese representing 70 parishes. Over 100 participants attended and produced a large number of shoes which will be sent to children in African orphanages who do not have mothers or caregivers to make shoes for them.

Although this project was originally intended to help ladies in Sierra Leone who were Ebola survivors, we simply cannot ignore the needs of barefoot children throughout Africa. As word about the “Heeling Our World” project spreads, we have received requests to train women from many nations throughout Africa. Although at this time we don’t have the resources to work with all of them, we have responded to these requests from Uganda and Mali.

Uganda

We are continuing to provide shoes for children in the HORD orphanage in Kampala. These shoes were made by students and youth groups in the U.S. as an acknowledgement of their responsibilities as global citizens.

Our team leader in Uganda “Rock” Rwakishaya brought his team to the village of Errussi, Nebbi District in Northern Uganda. The team included The Honorable Joshua Anywarach who is a member of the Uganda Parliament. They brought lots of supplies from Kampala including a dozen treadle sewing machines, since there is no power in Erussi. Over a 2 day period they trained 9 members of the St. Augustine Community Love Programme to make shoes. These people will now become trainers for the thousand plus women in the program. The plan is for them to be able to make shoes for all the children in the village.

Mali

We are in the planning phase of bringing the project to Mali. What is especially exciting is that our team leader, Mr. Simbo Keita has an extensive network of contacts. Through his far reaching distribution network the cottage industries we develop will have the potential for reaching markets throughout the country. So beyond providing shoes for their children, the women will gain economic empowerment and dignity.

U.S. Students and Youth Groups

We continue to work with U.S. students in the middle and high school level. We are also working with youth groups from various churches. By learning about the barefoot children and making shoes for them, they are on a pathway to becoming better global citizens.