Giving Hope: Students Make Shoes For Uganda Children

By Natalie Bruzon
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Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for a loving family, great friends and delicious food. 

This year, the Orchard site kindergarteners worked hard to give children in Uganda something to be thankful as well. 

Angela Tagel, the kindergarten teacher, planned a service project for students and parents to participate in last Thursday.

“I have wanted to do a service learning project with my students,” said Tagel. “... I just wanted something that we could actually make and they could get their hands on it and feel like they really contributed. I wanted it to be with kids because they’re kids and and kids that can’t go to school because they don’t have shoes and (the class)  could kind of relate to that.”

After looking at various service projects, Tagel decided that holding a Shoe Cutting Party for Soles Of Hope would be a great project for her students. 

“I thought that it would be the easiest for them to participate with,” said Tagel about choosing Soles Of Hope. “I had seen that you could make crochet hats and stuff and it was just too difficult for their age, so I was trying to find one that would fit what parents could help with and what I could do and what they could handle. Being five years old and six years old and doing a project.”

Soles Of Hope is an organization dedicated to providing Ugandan children with shoes to protect their feet from jiggers, small flesh-eating bugs that often times eat so much of kids’ feet that it leaves them unable to walk. 
During the party, students and parents first watched an introductory video to the Soles Of Hope Project. Then Tagel explained how the shoe cutting works and everyone got to work. 

Shoes for Soles Of Hope are put together by cutting out the pattern on jeans and cutting the heel part on plastic, then assembling all the pieces for shoe makers in Uganda to put together. 

Tagel said she spent time teaching students about Uganda and how children live over there. 

“The kids were really excited and they had a lot of questions,” said Tagel. “I purchased a children’s book that came with it, ‘A Day In The Life Of A Child In Uganda,’ and I just went through what they go through everyday and do and how they get their new shoes and the process in that. They had a lot of questions and they were really eager and invested into that and then they all wanted to come.”

For Tagel, this service project was also a way to emphasize the importance of contributing back to the community. 

“In social studies we talk about being a good citizen and being responsible and community,” Tagel said. “So it just ties in with that really well, to help them know how they can do things to help their community and the world.”

Because this is the first time a project like this has been done, the turnout was not as great as Tagel hoped. However, she’s already thinking of ways to get more kids involved. 

“This is the first time I’ve done it so the turnout isn’t as great as I wanted,” admitted Tagel. “But I’m hoping that if I continue and do it we’ll have a better turnout the next time. And combine with other classes maybe so that there’s more people and we can make more shoes that way.”

Either way, Tagel is proud of her students and how excited they were for this service project, and she believes that it was the perfect thing to do this time of year.  She said she saved it for November, so students could talk about what they are thankful for before working on the project.

“I went on maternity leave last spring in April and so then I sat at home a lot so I planned the whole project over the summer and i got the invites all ready and everything ready to go and I just needed the jeans and the people to do it,” said Tagel. “I saved it for November so we could talk about what we’re thankful for and then we could do this project.”