One of our Sole Hope Ambassadors recently struggled through an accident that left her unable to walk for a period of time. Here are her reflections on this time in her life:
When you hear ‘a walk to remember’, several things may come to mind: the tear-jerking movie about true love, a baby’s first steps, a walk down the aisle. I think of the day not long ago when I walked out of the doctor’s office in a boot after 6 weeks of my foot not touching the floor. Then I think of my first steps without the boot. I had lost muscle tone from my hip to my toes. I felt like a baby giraffe trying to navigate my first steps on stick like legs that didn’t want to seem to hold me up.
It all started with a car accident; a bad break, a surgery where I had to be cut open, and a lot of downtime – a lot of dependence on others. I could not walk, drive, or even stand in the kitchen and prepare a decent meal for myself or my daughter. Doing many things I was accustomed to doing on my own e
ither got crossed off my list or had to be done by someone else. As awful as some days and some parts of me felt throughout my healing, I was blessed with both great friends and family and a wonderful medical team to care for me. But, as I took my first steps, my thoughts were not on my own plight but on the children of Uganda affected by jiggers. The children I serve through Sole Hope. I thought of the conditions in which many of them live. No routine medical care, no shoes, not even clean water. There may be no one to care for their wounds, to rehab the growing legs and feet, to give them hope. My heart was broken all over again for what they endure unnecessarily because of jiggers. Many of them don’t even have anyone to care for them under normal circumstances, much less in a time of need. My injury seemed trivial in comparison.
I have been humbled throughout this process. It has served as a great reminder of my role in this world: to be servant, just as Jesus was. I am humbled as well that such a Savior has afforded me the opportunity to serve in this capacity. To reach into all the nations, even when I cannot go, and share the love of the Father. If not us, then who?
Through the work of Sole Hope, each of us has the unique opportunity to serve those
in need. We can be the ones to help put an end to jiggers so no child has to suffer unnecessarily again. We can be the ones used to give them their own walk to remember.
I know, I know. Irreverent title and gross picture. But did I get your attention?
Jiggers are a type of sand flea found in Uganda. They lay eggs inside of bare feet, and you can see from the picture what happens next. At the end of my secondtrip to Uganda, the HopeChest country director looked at my feet in flip flops and said, “You should wear close-toed shoes so you do not get jiggers.” Living in Georgia, I thought he said “chiggers,” which are painful but not worth ditching my flip flops. Then I found out what a jigger was. On my third trip, with my toes carefully tucked into close-toed shoes, I saw firsthand what jiggers can do to the feet of our kids at the CarePoint.
During the free afternoon on our high school retreat a few weeks ago, the girls and I threw a Sole Hope shoe-cutting party. The girls brought old jeans, their moms’ pinking and sewing shears, empty milk jugs, paper, and Sharpies, and I brought a slew of old scraps of cotton from my costuming days. The women in Uganda employed by Sole Hope will take the shoes that we cut and sew them into brand new shoes for children. I can just picture all the little brown feet running around in checkered fabric from the Guys and Dolls ”Hotbox” costumes from my senior year in high school.
We had so much fun, and it felt good to spend the afternoon working with my amazing high school lovelies on a project to bless these precious little kids in the country I love. Several of us cut the denim, several cut cotton and milk jugs, and the third group served as “quality control,” matching the cut pieces, pinning them together, and labeling and bagging them.
When we arrived at our party host’s home, her ten-year-old daughter, Allie, handed me a ten dollar donation for Sole Hope (from her own money) and said that she wanted to cut a pair of shoes. I love this girl. The oldest of four, she has a heart for serving others, bright sparkly eyes that are always paying attention, and an old soul.
We kicked off the party by popping in the Sole Hope DVD that outlines the why and how of it all. Allie sat cross-legged in front of everyone, staring attentively at the screen, and watched as they documented the debilitating effect of jiggers in the feet of children. She watched unflinching as they demonstrated how they must remove the jiggers, using blades and cutting into the feet. She saw the solution, these shoes, as they were slipped onto de-jiggered, clean feet. And she got to work.
We broke into our groups, and Allie brought out all of her beautiful scraps of cotton from her crafty projects. She laid them on the pile, then began working on shoes.
We all fell into a rhythm. There may or may not have been show tunes and Disney music blasting, and some weirdo leader may or may not have performed the entire opening monologue from Aladdin in a terrible attempt at a Middle Eastern accent. And there may or may not have been a tender duet performed in the kitchen to “A Whole New World.” Allegedly. ”I’m like a shooting star/I’ve come so far/I can’t go back to where I used to be.” Shut up. Aladdin rocks.
We got so into our role as shoe-making, Aladdin-singing elves, that we blew right past the number we were planning on making and ended up making three times as many shoes as we’d planned. When I noticed this, I realized that we needed more money to help get these shoes made and on feet. (Sole Hope asks for a ten dollar donation per pair of shoes, which goes to employ the stitchers in Uganda and the organization’s efforts to eliminate jiggers in feet and homes.) While we were brainstorming bake sales, Allie crept quietly back to her room and came to me with a fistful of cash. Everything she had.
I looked at her mom and mouthed, “Is this okay?” Allie comes from big-hearted, generous parents, so I wasn’t surprised when her mom affirmed, “Oh, yes, it’s her money and she’s allowed to spend it however she wants.”
I thanked her and accepted her whole savings. I swallowed. Several other girls added to the growing pile of cash, and we worked to finish up the shoes. Allie came back to me three more times with more money that she’d found in her room, including her special two dollar bill from Christmas. We cleaned up the scraps, loaded everything into the back of my van, and as I climbed in my van, she handed me the last of her money, everything that she’d found, down to a handful of coins.
Here’s what I love about Allie. She didn’t display a big, emotional reaction to seeing debilitating poverty and disease on the DVD and then become paralyzed with the enormity of the problem. She didn’t see and forget. She didn’t think, “Oh that was really sad. Someday I should do something to help.”
She watched the DVD, then got to work. She donated her fabric and cut shoes that will go on the feet of the kids who need them. Then she emptied out all that she had. She didn’t think about what she was going to buy with that money. She didn’t worry about where and when she’d get more spending money. She just responded. She just gave. Her actions displayed the sincerity of her heart.
What if we all lived like ten-year-old Allie? What if we all responded when we saw a need, instead of adding it to our growing list of need-tos? I wish I had sixty-five Allies right now who would step up and sponsor our remaining unsponsored children. What’s in my piggy bank that I’m saving for a rainy day when I could be keeping little toes out of the rain?
Hey, want an awesome party idea? Throw a Sole Hope shoe-cutting party. They send you a kit with everything you need to plan your own shoe-bash. Grab some friends, your bunko group, smoosh a few small groups together, take over your local coffee shop, library, or church. You can split everyone up into groups and rotate so no one is cutting milk jugs till their hands freeze up. This is such a great way to recycle, inform people of a huge need, then give them the opportunity to help. You don’t have to sing Aladdin, but I highly recommend it.
Thank you to our new friend Melanie for this wonderful post! Please check out her wonderful UNEXPECTED site!
Now through Sunday April 7th, stop by any Macaroni Grill or Ruby Tuesday and purchase a bottle of Cultivate Wine.
Macaroni Grill offers 50% off wine on Thursday nights
Next, snap a pic with your bottle as you enjoy.
Then, post your pic on Twitterwith a message that reads something like: “Enjoying @CultivateWines at @MacaroniGrill / @RubyTuesday to support @SoleHope! #$2kin1wk #celebrate2elevate
For each bottle ordered, $10 goes to Sole Hope, so please feel free to share this amazing opportunity with your friends!
Thank you in advance to all of our faithful followers! We greatly appreciate your continued support! And, a huge thank you to Cultivate Wines for your gracious giving!
Today I was asked by a Ugandan man “What brings you to Africa?”…I told the gentleman I was here with Sole Hope to combat the jigger epidemic. We educate caregivers in villages plagued by jiggers, remove jiggers, spray homes, administer medicine to prevent infection and provide shoes. He laughed. I wasn’t so sure what was so funny about what I told him. He shook his head and mumbled a response I’ve heard many times before…”Why would you care about that? You are educated, have money (being white means you have money here) grand opportunities and have more important things you could be doing.” It was then my turn to laugh and respond with, “I was called by the one I serve to go and serve others. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.” With my tiny stone I hope to make BIG ripples. -Asher Collie
What are your hobbies?: Anything creative that uses my hands – painting, sewing, fabric print design. Blogging about giving (letsgivetoday.com).
Tell us a little bit about your current life situation: I left my career producing online college courses when my triplet boys were born five years ago. I have happily been a stay at home mom, but have felt called to do more.
What drew you to SH?: I read about Natalie’s Shoe Cutting Party on her blog and immediately knew I wanted to host one. On the surface, the Shoe Cutting Parties fit every joy of mine: using my hands + hosting friends + giving to others. As I looked into hosting a party, I found and read through the Ambassador description. I applied without a second thought. I knew that God led me to Sole Hope and His hand was at work, as I had no fears or doubts about joining the Sole Hope family. I knew I wanted to support everything about Sole Hope, the purpose, the mission, the people, the love and care for others.
What has been your favorite part of being an Ambassador so far?: It still gives me goosebumps every time I hold the fabric for the shoes and think about how they will cover the feet of children and will provide jobs for women.
What has been your favorite SH Event that you have held or way that you’ve raised awareness so far?: I love hosting the Shoe Cutting Parties. But the event that surprised me the most, that I loved, was the Walkathon. And I loved it because I was so scared to do it! I had never organized an event like that before, I didn’t know where to start and I put so much pressure on myself and was so afraid of failure. But once I put the focus on Sole Hope, not me, on God’s work, not mine, then the pressure was off! I was amazed at how my friends and kids came together to support Sole Hope. We hiked a local trail and were able to hand out cookies, trail mix, water and spread the word about Sole Hope to strangers as they walked by. It was such a blessing! (The photo attached was from the Walkathon.)
