Task 5: If The Shoe Fits....

I challenge you to find any girl who wouldn’t want a pair of designer shoes-even a converted tomboy like me knows shoes can make or break an outfit! I thought that buying a pair of coveted Christian Louboutin's would be a well deserved treat after the more challenging tasks. The way I saw it you only live once and in regards to the £800 price tag- I can spend my money how I wish. However, as I completed more tasks and in turn learnt more lessons about life than I could imagine, my view started to change. Yes a pair of designer shoes would be lovely- but did I really need them? Quite frankly no. Could I genuinely afford to pay £800 on some shoes I would be too scared to wear? No again. I soon began to realise a pair of black studded stiletto's wouldn’t make my life any better, but one pair of shoes to somebody else could.

Quite wrongly, I have sometimes been quite dubious in donating money to charities in Africa, but as soon as I came across the charity Shoe4Africa I knew this was a cause more worthy of any pair of designer shoes I could buy.

When I found out that I could donate shoes to those who really need them I instantly knew I wanted to do this as part of my challenges. I have been lucky enough to be in contact with Toby Tanser the founder of Shoe4Africa who had this to say...

 "The world is pretty unfair. In the West we are lucky to live in a zone of excess and for most of us this has been the story of our lives. We grew up expecting to get an education, to have healthcare, and to be able to choose even what we wear.

But for a large part of the world this is not so, and it is all decided at your birth; before you get a chance to have a say. Imagine if every day begun with a 6-mile walk to a water hole to bring home a bucket of water, if instead of school you had to work the farm and watch the goats.

By sharing what we have in the West with those who do not have in the less fortunate parts of the world we can be active in change; and it is a nice thought to give something to some one who is not in a position to help themselves."

So on the 11th June 2012 I am going to organise a box(es) of old/new trainers and socks to Kenya for those who really need it. This is a great way for you to get involved too; any donations of old trainers would be hugely welcomed. I am happy to come and collect them from anywhere for you or you can post them, just get in touch with me at grace.collins@live.co.uk and get involved!

You can read all about the amazing things shoe4africa do at their website-

http://www.shoe4africa.org/

Please ensure you read the section 'how you can help' to see other ways you can make a difference. I speak so much in my blog about living your life once but it’s also really important to remember how much of a difference you can make to others too. We are all so lucky in the world we get to live in and sometimes we need to remember that.

I would really really really appreciate as I am now in the last 2 weeks of my challenge if you could share my blog in any way possible. I have worked so hard and learnt so much I want to share it with as many people as possible so please tell your friends and family/share it on facebook and twitter.

Thank you as always for continuing to read,

Grace Xx