Friday, 15 November 2013

Half way, day 15!!

“Poverty is wrong, so we took our shoes off”

‘No Shoes November’ is all about raising awareness of extreme poverty in developing countries. I am not alone in this brilliant but crazy initiative. I am part of a No Shoes November Team based in Cardiff, UK.
The idea was sparked by students and graduates who have travelled to developing countries and met people living in extreme poverty who want to do something to help them.  To us, No Shoes November is a personal challenge with a lot of heart behind it. To give you some facts and figures, there are 1.4 BILLION people living in extreme poverty around the world. By extreme poverty, these people are living on less than $1 (or 65p) a day.

We are just 7 young people (along with many friends going barefoot on odd days) that want to change this. We will be BAREFOOT for the whole of November, that’s 30 days walking around with no shoes on! We know that individually we are not going to be able to change the HUGE number of people living in poverty but with the help and support of you (yes YOU) we believe our dream of a world without poverty can become a reality. We are raising money for 4 different charities; Tearfund, Stand by me, Edith’s Home and KOP.  KOP (Kenyan Orphan Project) is the incredible charity I am fundraising for.

KOP is an international development charity based in Bristol that supports orphaned and vulnerable children in Western Kenya. KOP’s vision is a world where all children thrive through health and education. KOP’s mission is to work in partnership with local organisations to deliver school based health and nutritional interventions and to inspire groups of university students to become advocates for change. KOP has certainly achieved the latter! Around 150 students each year from 16 UK universities spend their academic year fundraising for KOP and spend 2 weeks of their summer visiting some of the projects their fundraising supports.

KOP changed my life forever. Witnessing the extreme poverty in the rural parts of Western Kenya that the children and communities live in was heartbreaking. There were children supported by the KOP student programme-funded feeding centre that wouldn’t be alive today without the help from KOP. This frequently brought me to tears, seeing their smiling faces every day yet deep down knowing how many illnesses they have and that their life expectancies were drastically reduced because of poor health, nutrition and sanitation, before KOP thankfully stepped in.

After two weeks of playing with and teaching children, preparing and serving food, talking to the members of the community and learning about their way of life made me realise that I couldn’t go back to the UK and carry on as before. Something more has to be done.

Since signing up for KOP’s Student Programme in November 2012 I have raised around £1,500 for KOP. I have participated in lots of different fundraisers including a 24 hour famine with fellow KOPper Sarah Roberts to raise awareness of the severity of hunger and starvation amongst the developing world and earlier this year I spent 5 days living off a £1 a day, spending a total of £4.76. I proved that it is possible to have 3 meals a day, although my portions were smaller which left me going to sleep hungry and constantly feeling tired. This is how 1.4 billion people feel in the world, every day.  This must change!!

I have been barefoot for over 2 weeks now, living every day the same just without shoes or socks. The ground is cold and wet, gravel hurts, frost literally freezes your feet and I am one of the lucky ones that have managed to avoid glass! But all of this doesn’t matter because we are doing this to raise awareness and raise lots of money.

There are loads of ways you can get involved! You can start by visiting our website where you’ll find more information about No Shoes November, profiles about the individuals going barefoot and where to donate. Support me on facebook and join the team.

You can join us for a day (or more) by taking your shoes off in solidarity and help us increase the awareness of No Shoes November.  You can donate anything at all and I’ll be grateful as every penny really does make a difference.


PLEASE tell EVERYONE you know about No Shoes November, let’s spread the awareness of extreme poverty and put an end to it. 

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