Barefoot quest for needy kids’ school shoes
JABULANI Thabethe walks great distances for charity, and he does it all barefoot.
On September 15, Thabethe will be walking for 15 days from Joburg to Durban to raise money for school shoes to donate to pupils. Passing through 10 towns, Thabethe’s BareFoot Walk Foundation is going to adopt two schools in each town they pass. He explained how his charity work began.
“I started walking barefoot on March 28. I was excited because I had a dream, and my dream was to get school shoes for underprivileged kids.
“I thought it would be smooth sailing, but I didn’t know that the road will get tough,” he said yesterday.
Thabethe said he had faced critics who accused him of stealing their idea, some thought he was crazy and others asked if he was becoming a sangoma, because he was always barefoot. He added that his family had helped him.
“At first, things went great. The weather was perfect and I was in the spirit that no one could stop me, but there were days where I felt like I could go back to wearing shoes.
“One thing kept me going: the passion I had and a dream I had to fulfil. There were days I felt like giving up as the autumn approached, the cold breeze and the rainy days, but my family’s support got me through it all.”
Thabethe fell very short of his target of 3 000 shoes, getting just 53, but he’s undeterred and ready to try again.
“There’s no child that deserves to go to school without shoes,” he said.