After completing a gruelling 50 half marathons last year to raise funds for school shoes, a Mitchells Plain teacher says he was overjoyed to deliver the first of 3 000 pairs to a Schaapkraal school.
Irfaan Abrahams, a teacher at Liesbeeck Primary, and his organisation Lace Up 4 Change delivered 266 pairs of shoes to the Dietrich Moravian Primary School on the corner of Broccoli and Dietricht Roads in Highlands Estate last week during a special assembly.
“After all the blood, sweat and tears from running the marathons, it was such a special and emotional day to hand out the shoes to the kids,” says Irfaan.
“One of the kids had a pair of shoes where the soles were coming off and I was so honoured that I could gift him with a pair of shoes, while his smile was worth all of the effort.”
Liesl Fisher, principal of Dietrich Moravian, said the children were overwhelmed by the gift of new shoes, while the organisation also handed over stationery packs for every child.
“We are a small school with only one class for grades R till seven and each of our 266 learners received shoes and stationery today,” she says.
“We are extremely grateful for the contribution made by Lace Up 4 Change and it is good to see the children get a sense of pride for their gifts because many of them have not owned anything new before.”
Irfaan says over R300 000 was raised through the half-marathons which enabled them to purchase 3 000 pairs of shoes to be distributed to various schools all over the Western Cape.
On Saturday, they headed to two schools in Genadendal, LR Schmidt Primary and Barea Primary school, to make more deliveries.
“Then on March 9, it’s the turn of Red River Primary in Manenberg, where we will deliver 880 shoes, by far the largest number of recipients,” adds the teacher.
Three schools in Grabouw are next followed by a trip to the Namaqwa region, while other schools to benefit include Bredasdorp Primary, Struisbaai Primary, Worcester Muslim School and a small school in Robertson.