One of the needs the children of the Rehema Home faced this year was for new shoes. Putting shoes on 58 kids is a real challenge, and to be honest Kim and I were doubtful it could be done in the short amount of time that we had. But, with hopeful spirits, we threw it out there on Facebook and we were overwhelmed by the response. Shoes were pouring in! The week before we left almost every day held a knock at the door with another shoe donation. Before long our problem was no longer “how many shoes will we get?” but it became, “how can we bring all the shoes that we have?!” We had the privilege to collect almost 200 pairs of donated shoes to bring to Kenya for the kids at the Rehema Home.
Kim and I hardly have words for what we felt as we fitted each child with a pair of shoes. It was a joy and warmth of heart that is rarely experienced in this life. The room we set up as our “shoe shop” quickly became chaos as kids crowded in to see the new shoes. As each kid walked out wearing a new pair of shoes the excitement grew more and more. In some sizes we even had enough options that they got to pick out their favorite pair! We were able to get one pair of new shoes for every kid and a few kids got a pair of dress shoes as well.
These are Levi’s shoes before and after. He got an awesome pair of converse! He was so happy with his new kicks he went around showing everybody!
We set up all the shoes on the floor by size and went one by one trying them on and sending them on their way.
We also had a few brand new pairs to hand out.
Kim and Ana Sofia trying sandals on for Esther. She just loved her pink sandals with flowers. 🙂
Kim sizing up Mr. Elisha’s new kicks.
Levi’s old pair of shoes.
Brice’s old pair of shoes.
Basset’s new air jordans!
Left to Right showing off their new shoes: Levi, Bassett, Ryan, Silas and Justin.
There are so many of you who made this special project a reality. On behalf of 58 kids we want to thank you for your generosity. It may seem like a small thing but when this is the only pair of shoes that these kids will have all year it means a lot.