Guest post by Carissa Bentley, who is now one of our Sole Hope Ambassadors in Connecticut. If you are interested in the Ambassador Program, please contact Ashley at ashley@solehope.com.
This year for my daughter’s birthday, she wanted to have an African theme. We weren’t sure what kind of activity we would do or what charity she wanted to raise money for at the party. I googled different ideas and there were several that were possibilities but we just weren’t sure how to tie it all in together.
I read several adoption blogs and one evening was reading a blog of someone that was at an adoption conference and it included pictures of the booth for their organization and next to them was a booth for Sole Hope. I went to their website and read all about them. Children in western Africa suffer from jiggers, awful insects that burrow into children’s feet and make them sick. Sole Hope helps in two ways. First, they provide employment to widows through teaching them the trade of shoemaking. Second, the shoes are then given to children in western Africa that have no shoes. The children are also educated through a story book about why wearing shoes are important. If that isn’t wonderful enough, the soles are made from recycled tires, the heels are made from recycled plastic (such as milk jugs), recycled jeans and fabric.
A friend who had been to Africa donated Shetenges (wrap skirts) for the girls to wear.Everyone had a blast! Even though this is a serious and sad problem, the kids got the message of hope that Sole Hope is all about. They even got the meaning of the name. It was great to see all the moms come pick their kids up and the first thing they asked were, “Can I see what you guys made?” and I got to explain to them all about this great organization.
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