 | My guest blogger today is Eleanor Thompson, Fundraising and Support Manager for Giving Africa. This is a small charity working to empower children through empowering choices, by giving them a quality and relevant education. They are currently working in Burkina Faso, West Africa. And they have now relaunched the Barefoot Challenge, as Eleanor explains: |
By Eleanor Thompson
| Allow me to tell you a story… A long time ago, in a dusty, barren country in the west of Africa lived a small boy called Philippe. Philippe walked to school every day barefoot. He trod on rocks and scorching sand, and shaded under trees during his 10km walk to school. Going to school was so important for this small boy that the hardship of the journey did not deter him. What did walking barefoot to school teach this boy? |  |
What can being barefoot teach us? To feel the earth beneath your feet. To take things slowly and carefully. To push for the things we want, even when it is hard work. These are not the only things that can be learnt from the people of Burkina Faso. There is a strength of community, where families go without food to send a child to school, where children live with aunts and uncles to be closer to a good education, where villages come together to share their resources, troubles and celebrations.
Today there are still children walking to school barefoot but this time to a school that we are working tirelessly to develop; to empower the children with skills that will enable them to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Would you go Barefoot to see what it is like for many of the children of Bethel School? Would you feel the earth beneath your feet, take things more slowly? There are many activities that can be done barefoot, walking, running, yoga, waterskiing (!), a barefoot coffee morning… The list goes on. The only limit is your imagination!
Last year many of supporters went barefoot, completing a number of challenges from feeding the cows, going on the London Underground, running barefoot marathons (half and full), barefoot hiking and even going barefoot for an entire year - our chief nelipod Allen!
To find out more about Giving Africa’s Barefoot Challenge please take a look at our website: www.barefootchallenge.org.uk and follow our facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/barefootchallengeafrica/
And, where is Philippe now?
Having finished school and studied at Oxford, Philippe started AEAD, the NGO that we work in partnership with in Burkina Faso. His experience taught him to fight for what he believes in and to fight for his fellow Burkinabes to get the education they rightly deserve.
Today there are still children walking to school barefoot but this time to a school that we are working tirelessly to develop; to empower the children with skills that will enable them to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Would you go Barefoot to see what it is like for many of the children of Bethel School? Would you feel the earth beneath your feet, take things more slowly? There are many activities that can be done barefoot, walking, running, yoga, waterskiing (!), a barefoot coffee morning… The list goes on. The only limit is your imagination!
Last year many of supporters went barefoot, completing a number of challenges from feeding the cows, going on the London Underground, running barefoot marathons (half and full), barefoot hiking and even going barefoot for an entire year - our chief nelipod Allen!
To find out more about Giving Africa’s Barefoot Challenge please take a look at our website: www.barefootchallenge.org.uk and follow our facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/barefootchallengeafrica/
And, where is Philippe now?
Having finished school and studied at Oxford, Philippe started AEAD, the NGO that we work in partnership with in Burkina Faso. His experience taught him to fight for what he believes in and to fight for his fellow Burkinabes to get the education they rightly deserve.
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