By Mitch Lewis | Executive Director
A great big “Thank You” again to all of our generous donors who have supported our vision of bringing footwear to the world’s barefoot children. It certainly would have been a much easier path to just send footwear, as some organizations are doing. However, today, the thinking is that the old model of sending aid, is not the best solution. Today the key word is “sustainability.” By creating cottage industries for making footwear, the women in these villages can provide for their families, gain dignity, and have a sustainable pathway out of poverty.
Latest News
Here are some of the exciting things that are happening with the project:
The 2nd year Industrial Design students at NC State University, under the leadership of Professor Percy Hooper have each designed shoes for our project. They use locally sourced materials, and can be easily made by women with no prior experience. A few examples of their creativity can be found at the end of this report.
We did a presentation about the Heeling Our World project to Interact students from our North Carolina District Rotary. They were given the opportunity to have their schools join our project. We have received requests from many schools to have us visit during the Fall semester.
Latest from Mozambique
In Mozambique our partner has selected the village of Macuane as our entry point. It is located in the Beline District about 3 hours drive from their capital city of Maputo, thereby making it easier to establish a supply chain and coordinate operations. Our partner Movement is being assisted by Social Services and has established a relationship with the Maputo Rotary. So they are establishing the all important building blocks. Although we are all anxious to begin operations in Mozambique, we are also aware that African start-ups have a very high rate of failure. Our partners are spending a lot of time on their implementation plan to give them the best chance for success.
GlobalGiving Bonus Day-
Just a mention that there is a GlobalGiving Bonus Day coming up on May 13, 2015.
There is $75,000 available in matching funds which will be distributed on a pro-rated basis. Matching begins at 9:00:01 EDT. The link to our project is- http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/http-making-shoes-for-barefoot-children-in-mozambique/
Thank you so much for being a part of our team.
Best,
Mitch
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