Over 3,000 Bare Feet in Malawi Soon to Have Shoes!

Tiny purple sandals. Sturdy leather boots. And some brand new basketball shoes.

These are just three of the 1,636 pairs of shoes recently collected by Northland Church in Longwood, Florida that will be sent to our children and staff in Malawi, Africa!

Each month, the children’s ministry at Northland Church has a special project to teach their children about giving. In May, they asked the children to donate pairs of shoes to Children of the Nations.

Barefoot children are a common sight in the African nation of Malawi. Having a reliable pair of shoes helps children greatly by preventing injury and infection.

COTN–Florida satellite director Beth Sprinkle helped to coordinate the drive with the church. Beth remembers spending time with many barefooted children in Malawi— including some who had been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic.

“These children have no way of feeding themselves, nowhere to sleep at night and no means to clothe themselves, including shoes,” Beth said. “Because of this shoe drive, Children of the Nations will be able to give over 1,000 children shoes. For some children, this will be the first pair of shoes they ever own!”

As the children’s ministry shoe drive was being publicized, Northland Church was simultaneously planning a family event— a professional dance performance called the Cinderella Ballet. They saw a great opportunity to get the adults and community involved with donating shoes. They asked every family that attended the event to bring in a new or gently used pair.

Naomi James, who attends Northland Church with her family, noticed a church newsletter story and photo publicizing the shoe drive. She showed the newsletter to her six-year-old son Kwesi, who seemed eager to help. After donating four pairs of his own shoes, Kwesi convinced his principal at Longwood Elementary to start a school-wide collection for COTN that brought in 100 pairs of shoes!

In addition to Longwood Elementary, a local college and another elementary school took on the cause. After hosting the Cinderella Ballet, 1,636 pairs of shoes had been donated!

Debbie Blahnik, Director of Children’s Ministries at Northland Church in Longwood, said that she was so encouraged by the outcome of the shoe drive.

“This is one of the largest outpourings of support we’ve ever seen— not only from the church, but from the community as well,” she said. “To see the phone calls I received from so many people was amazing. It just had to be God.”

by Aimee Henderson, COTN–USA Communications Assistant