Walk a Mile in My Shoes

We’ve all heard a version of this phrase more times than we can probably count:  Before you judge another, walk a mile in his shoes. 

This great universal truth, which was actually was going to be the thirteenth universal truth in my most recent post, but then I realized that there was too much to share about this particular truth than the one-liners in my previous post could capture, has taken a whole meaning for me in the past few weeks, and particularly the last few days.

A couple of months back, I began paying closer attention to the shoes that my kids wear to school.  In doing so, I realized that I had been completely oblivious to how worn, tattered and old many of the shoes of my kids really were.  Now, I am not talking about gently worn or even roughly worn here; I am talking about holes so large that socks are sticking out and soles that disconnect from the rest of the shoe every time a child takes a step. I guess I wasn't paying attention to their shoes because I could care less about their shoes' condition. However, as an advocate for the Stella Maris children, I also feel that it is part of my duty while here to be as in tune as possible to as many aspect of my kids' lives as I can be.  

Once I began to notice my kids' shoes, the condition of many of their shoes began eating away at me, as would be the case with anyone with half a heart in the same situation. To make matters even worse, all of the Stella Maris kids walk great distances to get to school – on average over an hour one – way to/from school each day. Knowing the amount of time they spend walking made this shoe situation even worse in my eyes because if any child needs his or her shoes to be strong and protective, it is a child who walks more than two hours each day.   

Since Stella Maris continues to be blessed with such generous donors, I decided that the very least I should do is share our need for all-black school shoes with upcoming visitors of the hotel and school.  Like always, shoes started coming as soon as people learned there was a need.  My family even brought over several such shoes that my godmother had collected for the Stella Maris kids. Thank you so very much, Mary, for your continued generosity. 

It took some time to convince Mama Shayo that it was fair to give children who needed new shoes new shoes even though there were not enough shoes for each child in the school to receive a pair.  I explained that if a child already had shoes that were in good condition, it did not make sense to give that child a new pair of shoes.  Conversely, since we had received a small collection of new shoes, it would not be fair to keep those shoes from children who really need a new pair.  After approval from Mama Shayo that we could indeed distribute the shoes that we had, even though we did not have enough to give every child in the school, I got right to work in identifying the children in greatest need.

Since our shoe collection was limited, I called upon the children with the most worn shoes to receive new shoes first.  Thankfully, we had enough new pairs of shoes to match the size of all of the children who were in the greatest, greatest need of new shoes.  That really was such a significant blessing.  I don't know what I would have done if there wasn't an appropriately sized shoe for all of children in the greatest need.  

In order to try to decrease children’s inquiries as to why some children were getting new shoes and other were not, all ‘shoe shopping’ was done after school dismissed.  However, after the first day, where I kept only three kids, the three kids with the worst looking shoes in the entire school, after school for a few moments, everyone quickly learned what happened when Madam Jesca asked you to ‘stay after school for a few moments’.

I did have a few brave souls directly ask me why some kids were getting new shoes and others were not.  I simply explained that it is only fair to give someone something when they really, really need it and not just because they want it.  I continued on and explained that there were not enough shoes for every pupil to have a new pair, so we had to make sure the people who actually needed new shoes received a pair.  Although this was a new concept - usually everyone gets the same something or no one gets anything - the kids began to understand the fairness in this approach and stopped asking about it. 

Mack's old shoes. 

Mack, the first child to receive new shoes, in his new shoes.  

Subira's shoes: old and new. 

Diana's shoe swap. 

Diana could not contain her excitement about her new shoes!

Theresia.

Jackeline. 

Theresia and Jackeline proudly sporting their new shoes. 

I cannot thank all of the people who have sent or are preparing to send shoes to our school enough.  To date, fifteen children have received new shoes.  The gratitude that people, adults and children alike, show when receiving small gifts will never grow old.  As my return to America is vastly approaching, deep sigh and holding back tears, I pray that I can bring the level of appreciation that I see here on a daily basis home with me and keep it at the center of my life.