Why we are shoeless

Yesterday was April 5, 2011. It was also Tom's and MSN's One Day Without Shoes campaign. My darling Daughter and I have decided to go shoeless for the summer, in as many places as we are allowed by law, to raise money and awareness for those who have never owned a pair of shoes. I expect, living in the U.S. to run into issues with this. I can't tell you how many signs I have seen like this one:

Now I wonder what would happen if they started posting these signs and enforcing them in Ethiopia? Most children there grow up never owning a pair of shoes. Their families cannot afford them. It costs many people their lives, due to infections like podoconiosis, a disease that causes swelling of the feet and legs due to prolonged exposure to irritant soil. Want to know what this looks like?

Can you imagine walking everywhere you go without shoes? How many times have you noticed glass or trash or even animal waste laying on the ground? Did you know that in many countries streets look like this one below?

Would you want to walk barefoot here? What about your kids? This is reality in many foreign countries. We don't have the luxury to be ignorant any longer. God tells us to care for the poor, to provide for the needy, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Would Jesus ignore this situation? The answer is no, and neither can we.

So from now until October, my darling daughter and I will be going shoeless to raise money and awareness to this issue. Will you join us? Together we can fill this need! To donate just click the "donate" button on this page, it will take you to paypal's secure site. Not comfortable with Paypal, send me a message and we can do it another way. To participate, just take off your shoes :)