FAQ's

PLEASE JUST SEND RUNNING & SOCCER SHOES!

WHY WE DO NOT WANT ANY SHOES

S4A’s mission is to empower through sports, not dump footwear on Africa. We give out running and soccer cleats to promote wellness, and life changing activity, plus combat hookworm.
 
Africa is be-riddled with hand outs, the eyes go down the hand goes out. With Shoe4Africa we ask the recipient runs a footrace before receiving a pair of shoes, hence the shoe is hard earned, and thus demanded. This promotes empowerment and moves away from the traditional waiting for aid that I feel has sunk African entrepreneurship.

WHY WE CAN’T PAY SHIPPING:

When Shoe4Africa started I paid for all the shipping, then a couple of friends would sometimes pitch in with a contribution. This worked on a small scale. However when Shoe4Africa ballooned I found myself in a conundrum; I was working full time sans salary for ShoeAfrica and spending thousands of dollars shipping people’s shoes over to Africa. I simply had no money to sustain this project. My living room became a storage room, and my life was shoes!
 
In 2007 I launched a ‘send your own’ campaign that has been working very nicely. Natalie Portman was kind enough to mention the concept in the December issue of Instyle magazine; “I have a friend…

WHAT IS THE EXPENSE?

On each pair of shoes you send in Africa we have to pay import tax, this is why we ask PLEASE only send good useable running shoes!  When a box arrives in Eldoret we pay approximately $1.50 per pair. Then we transport the shoes to a storage unit, then host an event (costing approximately $10,000) to distribute the shoes with free Tee shirts, prizes etc. at a race. All this money does not come from open donations to Shoe4Africa. Our donations are channeled to the hospital!
 
If you are throwing out your shoes because they are too old please do not send them. Only send shoes you would consider using for running. Sadly we receive many shoes that are in a terrible state of repair and no good to anyone.

HOW YOU CAN BEST HELP?

Send one or two pairs in good condition and you will change someone’s life for the better! Give them a gift (many cases their first ever gift) that has, we have seen, transformed not only an individual but a community.