In Honour of Nelson Mandela Day, First Distribution
We at Samaritan’s Feet South Africa are celebrating Nelson Mandela Day by dedicating our two most recent distributions to the honour of Mandela. Mandela lived and embodied the fight for social justice, and walked out of prison on a path of peace — forgiving his oppressors and fostering reconciliation in the years that followed. A peace prize winner, a President, and a man very deserving of honour, we join millions around the world today to agree with his words:
“Where there is poverty and sickness, where human beings are oppressed, there is work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all. After 90 years of life, it is time for new hands to lift the burdens. It is in your hands now.”
–Nelson Mandela, Hyde Park, London, June 2008
This distribution took place July 17, 2010 in a township near Cape Town, South Africa. We hope it will inspire you that with as little as a pair of shoes, a word or act of kindness, or a simple gesture of goodwill, you can help to change the world around you for the better.
Washing feet in Jesus’ Name.
Proudly South African.
The hardest part of every Shoes of Hope distribution…the demand always exceeds the supply.
Waiting for a turn…
Around 200 children were blessed with a message of hope, clean feet, and a new pair of shoes here. We feel privileged to be a part of this work.
Here’s to Madiba, and seizing the opportunity to do the work that there is to be done, addressing poverty and injustice in Jesus’ Name.
–SFSA
To view photos of our Second Shoes of Hope Distribution in honour of Nelson Mandela day, click here.
In Honour of Nelson Mandela Day, Second Distribution
Samaritan’s Feet South Africa is celebrating Nelson Mandela Day by dedicating our two most recent Shoes of Hope distributions to the honour of Nelson Mandela. You can view photos from the first Mandela Day distribution here.
This Shoes of Hope distribution took place in a township near Cape Town, South Africa, not far from Robben Island, where Mandela spent nearly two decades of his 27 year imprisonment.
Each child had their feet washed.
This little one arrived on this chilly winter’s day with a pair of mismatched pair of flip flops.
A vast improvement from mismatched flip flops:
This little one was overjoyed that her Shoes of Hope light up!
These children are hearing a message of hope and being encouraged to dream BIG!
Each child is prayed for by the person who washes their feet.
It is a privilege to be able to bless kids who start out with shoes like this, and a challenge to remember that there are still millions more around the world, with even less.
We honour Nelson Mandela today, and hope others will be inspired by his life and message, to make a difference in the lives of people in poverty.
You can view photos from our first Shoes of Hope distribution in honour of Mandela Day here, and there are more photos at our Facebook page.
–SFSA
Our First World Cup Distribution!
These are a few highlights from our first World Cup Distribution just outside Cape Town last week!
It was a chilly winter morning, so it was tough to see these bare feet!
About 140 kids received a new pair of shoes — some arrived with bare feet, others with flip flops or old, worn through hand-me-downs.
It was special to be reminded by some of the staff members that these shoes may be the first new thing these children have ever received.
This little one was very excited when she discovered that her brand new shoes LIGHT UP!
It was a privilege to partner with Living Hope’s amazing work in the Cape Town area to bring a message of hope and meet a practical need for lots of kids in poverty!
You can look for more pictures and captions from this and other distributions at our Facebook fan page!
Many thanks to those of you who helped make this possible!
–SFSA
Join Us During the 2010 World Cup
The teams have touched down, the fans are arriving, the streets are full of flags and side view mirror covers, jerseys and soccer balls, and the opening ceremonies are a few hours away! South Africa is ablaze with the excitement of the first World Cup to ever take place on the continent of Africa, and we’re excited too!
While the eyes of the world will be focused on soccer stadiums and cheering crowds, some great things are happening in SA that may not be in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Ministries around the country are taking this opportunity to run programs for kids who’ll be out of school for the month, they’re hosting big screen events for people who might not otherwise get to watch the games, and they’re endeavouring to just bless people in need the best way they know how.
Samaritan’s Feet South Africa is a part of that crowd: cheering on Africa in the belief that the kindness we show to one another can make a difference that will still be ringing out long after the stadiums are empty and the teams have gone home. We’re hoping to give away 5,000 pairs of shoes to children and adults around the country during the World Cup. We do this in partnership with other ministries, like YWAM and Living Hope. Together we’re hosting distributions where we TEACH a message of hope, we TOUCH each person by washing their feet, and we TREAT those clean feet to a new pair of socks and shoes.
Samaritan’s Feet SA will personally be delivering shoes to different parts of the country, arranging the storage of shoes we’ve been blessed with by our parent organization Stateside, and lots more. We could use your help to make these endeavours possible!
Would you like to be a part of the good stuff that’s happening during the World Cup in SA?
Click here to find out more about how we at Samaritan’s Feet South Africa do what we do.
Or
Click here to go ahead and give to help make a difference!
Thank you for your support! It makes a whole lot of this possible:
From the bottom of our hearts, and many feet, thank you!!
Our First Distribution: Overcome Heights
Our first official distribution as Samaritan’s Feet South Africa took place in April 2010 in an area called Overcome Heights, outside of Cape Town. We had the awesome privilege of teaming up with a ministry there called Living Hope, and we put shoes on the feet of close to 70 children. Many of those children arrived with bare feet and left with perhaps their first pair of shoes. A donation of shoes from Crocs made this distribution possible, and we were very excited to begin to live out the dream we’d been working toward for seven months solid!
Would you like to see some highlights?
There were lots of beautiful faces.
There were also lots of barefeet.
As well as a few good replacements…
There were some really special moments:
Even our 20-month old son was excited to be a part of it!
A lot of little lives were touched. And a lot of happy faces were a result.
Thank you, Living Hope and YWAM, for partnering with us to make our first distribution as Samaritan’s Feet South Africa a beaming success!
And thank you, Crocs — without your generosity, this wouldn’t have been possible!
