These shoes are made for learning
● Instead of receiving gifts for her 60th birthday, businesswoman collects footwear for needy pupils
It is often underestimated what a new pair of school shoes can do for a pupil’s confidence and, consequently, his or her future.
This is the view of an Eastern Cape businesswoman who has started a school shoe donation drive to celebrate her 60th birthday.
Pinky Tsako donated 50 pairs of new school shoes to pupils at Estiyeni Primary School in Zwide yesterday.
Estiyeni is one of six township schools she has targeted for the drive, including Emsengeni Primary School where she used to sew and donate rugby jerseys for Springbok captain Siya Kolisi’s former rugby team.
At Emsengeni, Tsako had identified talented pupils who oozed potential but came from disadvantaged families who could not afford their sportswear.
“The kids there were disadvantaged and their parents could only get them essentials and not sports kits.
“I collected material and made them rugby jerseys so they could continue to be excited about the sport,” Tsako said.
When cared for and provided with the resources, township schools were able to produce stars such as Kolisi, Tsako said.
More than a decade since the charity bug bit and she made jerseys for Emsengeni pupils, Tsako, who now lives in East London, has returned with 300 pairs of shoes to donate to schools in the Bay.
She has collected and bought a total of 2,000 pairs — more are still coming in — to donate to schools across the Eastern Cape.
“It’s amazing how much confidence a simple pair of shoes can restore in a child ... and when children are confident, they perform better at school and create a promising future for themselves.
“I grew up in the township, I know how disadvantaged children in these schools are but I don’t want a pair of shoes standing in the way of a township school producing another Siya Kolisi.”
For her 60th birthday on December 13, Tsako decided she no longer wanted to receive gifts but to rather give back to the community.
She asked friends to each donate a pair of school shoes and a brush for her #60WalkAChildToSchool drive.
Some of her friends added school bags too.
“I target school kids because even though I grew up in a family that provided everything I needed, I had friends who really struggled.
“I wished I could change their situation but then I was a child with no means, so the best I could do was give them some of my clothes and food,” she said.
Estiyeni Primary School principal Buyiswa Mxokozeli said the donation was a muchneeded confidence boost for pupils whose academic performance was affected negatively by a lack of school shoes.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has really put our struggle as a school under the spotlight because it took away food from families who have become unable to put food on the table for their kids. We are so grateful to Miss Tsako for thinking of us at a time like this,” Mxokozeli said.
She said children who did not have school shoes found it difficult to participate at school due to a lack of self-confidence.
“Children cannot learn when they face such difficulties because when you don’t have things such as school shoes as a child, you don’t want to do anything that will attract attention to you.
“When a child does not have to worry about such things then [they] are able to be their best selves,” Mxokozeli said.
Mxokozeli, who became Estiyeni’s principal in 2015, was a teacher at Emsengeni when Tsako made sports uniforms for the school.