Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine and the Gift of the Givers are running a school shoe drive to raise R1.5 million for 10 000 pairs of school shoes for South African children.
Thus far, over R500 000 has been raised.
As part of the drive, thousands of school shoes will be displayed at vigils, entitled Soles of our Souls, across the country in remembrance of over 10 000 children killed in Palestine.
Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine has been hosting vigils for those killed in Palestine by Israeli attacks, including healthcare workers and journalists.
The next vigil will be held across South Africa on Saturday February 10 and will be in honour of the children in Palestine who have been killed.
Thousands of pairs of shoes will be displayed at the vigils as a visual representation of the sheer numbers of innocent children in Gaza who have been killed.
“We pay tribute to their precious lives, symbolically and practically, through giving shoes to needy school children in South Africa.
“This gives dignity to these school children when they go to school, contributing to a ripple of positive change in our communities. We also remember the children who remain in Palestine, many of whom are injured or orphaned and traumatized, and who lack access to water, food, shelter, healthcare and education. We want for Palestine’s children the same that we wish for our own children,” said Dr Saadiq Moolla, the founding member of Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine.
Donations can be made via BackaBuddy at www.backabuddy.co.za/soles4souls with all proceeds going to the Gift of the Givers to procure and distribute the shoes to needy children across South Africa.
The Durban vigil will take place on Saturday February 10 at the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre in Chatsworth from 4pm to 8pm.
Zohra Moosa, a deaf poet and the first deaf matriculant in Durban will recite a poem about Palestine and Lu Dlamini will perform protest songs.
Speakers include Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, Zaynab Khan, a primary school teacher and author of A Letter from Gaza to the World, and Nadia Meer, director of Shamsaan, an arts movement focused on global human rights issues.
