More Shoes for Rwanda

And "Project TOMS Shoes" continues..... Our second shoe distribution was carried out on my territory at Sonrise Primary School. As you may have read in previous posts, Sonrise is a school that was started for the orphans of the genocide and currently has over 60% orphaned children. After over six months of working at this school, it has become my home....and I have come to claim the children as my own. Whether they are the neediest orphans in the country or belong to very affluent families, I love each one of the 1200 students at Sonrise and love the warm and welcoming hugs I get everytime I walk in the door. And I was very excited about putting new shoes on the feet of my children. We gave new shoes to all 600 children at the Primary School, and this time, I loved being able to know the kids by name (maybe not all 600 of them, I'm still learning!).

Waiting in line for shoes!

Shoe fitting.

Putting shoes on a cute little one.

My friend Magnifique.

Who needs those old shoes?

One of my favorite students at Sonrise Primary is little Freddy. Freddy is quite the mess and a famous attention-getter, as he rushes to greet any new visitors to show them how he can make his ears dance, performs musical and dance numbers for the teachers, and entertains his fellow students by his dead-on animal impersonations. Although Freddy appears to one of the happiest children at Sonrise, in reality, he is a very sick little boy who is a single sided orphan from a very poor family. Freddy met our visitors a few days before the actual shoe distribution. After putting on a show for everyone, he pulled Tom over to the side and pointed down at his shoes.....his dirty, torn-up, soles falling off, toes coming through holes tennis shoes that were pink and meant for a girl. His sad little expression said it all....although he had no idea what our visitors were actually doing there. As he told Tom about how all he wanted was a new pair of shoes before he went home for the break from school, he had no idea that hundreds of new pairs of shoes were literally sitting in the next building, waiting to be placed on the feet of every child at Sonrise. Two days later as he was lining up to get his new shoes, he had a bright smile across his face. I took him to have his shoes put on by Kris Allen as the rest of stood by and watched...and fought off the tears. What an incredible moment, one of those moments where you feel so alive and blessed to be witnessing something so special. Something as simple as a little boy getting the new pair of shoes that he prayed for.

Kris giving shoes to Freddy....and the smile that came after it.

Me and my sweet Freddy:)

And after giving out shoes all day, time for some fun. My roommate Mark has this deep voice perfect for impersonating Johnny Cash....so Kris and Mark did a little impromptu duet to "Ring of Fire".

Here is a video clip of the performance....hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAEayBpsvUg