Flip Flops and Tropicals

Yesterday we were visited by a group of extremely generous people and I was so touched by their thoughtfulness I thought I needed to write about it.

A few months ago we learned about an organization here in Zambia called "Flip Flop Foundation". It's a charitable organization based in the US but run here in Zambia and was created to help orphans and vulnerable children here in Zambia. The founder of this organization was here in Zambia for 6 months back in 2006 and immediately saw the great needs of the Zambian street children. She realized that there were so many kids here who had no shoes, no food, no clothes - nothing. She quickly went out to the local markets to buy flip flops (or as the Zambians call them "Tropicals") for any street child she saw without shoes...and realized that she could not buy enough flip flops..the need was too great. This motivated her to start this foundation and it has been growing ever since.

Here is a description from their website (www.flipflopfoundation.com)

"To date, the Flip Flop Foundation has executed 84 distributions to 36 orphanages, community schools, community-based programs, hospices, refugee camps, and other organizations supporting orphans and vulnerable children...Distributions to these organizations have included 4500 pairs of flip flops, as well as shoes, boots, sneakers, and sandals; thousands of items of clothing and 400 pieces of chitenge cloth to make clothes; 360 blankets & 85 sets of bedsheets; food supplies (220 25-kg bags of mealie-meal to make the staple food nshima, 140 bags of rice, 260 bags of sugar, 1500 eggs, as well as soya pieces, ground nuts, red beans, white beans, kapenta, cooking oil, margarine, Milo, tea, milk, salt, and baby formula); school supplies (5300 notebooks, 82 educational posters, 60 storybooks, post-it pads, and hundreds of pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and binder clips); 70 mosquito nets, hygiene supplies (670 tubes of toothpaste & 125 toothbrushes, hundreds of bars of soap, as well as Vaseline, lotion, toilet paper, and laundry soap); sporting equipment (100 soccer bibs, 11 soccer balls, and 10 training cones); one megaphone; and finally, toys, dolls, and stuffed animals"

Yesterday, there was an addition to this team. A lady from Canada was here visiting and she is a big supporter of this foundation. She is trying to find churches in Canada who will support 1 home that Flip Flop currently supports for 1 month per year, gathering supplies and funds, depending on the needs of the specific home. Yesterday they brought us a huge bag filled with clothes and toys for the kids. They also brought a 25 kg bag of mealie-meal - a huge blessing to us.

I know that may not seem like much to some of us, but really, this is going to make a huge difference for these kids. They don't get new things very often, so to get a new pair of shoes AND a new shirt will make their day! Add a toy to that and it will make their week! These kids have come from horrible situations, most of them never knowing what it is like to celebrate a birthday until just recently. They have never had a birthday present, a christmas present, or new clothes just for themselves.

This foundation was started by one person who saw the need and acted, and that is inspirational. Through her foundation she is touching many lives all around Zambia and these kids deserve it!