Eurogathering Shoes Bring Child Back to SchoolRebecca Swarbrick - 21 Feb 2013

At the Eurogathering last October, one hundred and sixty pairs of shoes were gathered ready to be sent to the children of Shutka in Macedonia. But did they ever make it to the children who needed them the most? Could a pair of trainers change the life of a child who spent school time begging on the streets? Kristijan Kalinov, from the Glastnost community in Macedonia, shares the full story in his own words.

"Before we got to Frankfurt me and Cassie-Sioux went for a drink in Skopje, while walking to a coffee bar we meet Albena, a 12 years old girl who comes and hangs out with us on Thursdays. She was begging in the Centar of Skopje in  school hours, and we asked her why she was not in School (she goes to school regulary). She said she wanted to make 400 denars (5 pounds) for new shoes, cause she can't go in the old ones, because they were really ruined. We told her that we will bring her a new pair of shoes in a week... And now she loves her brand new funky Adidas.

Shutka is the most populated Gypsy area in Europe.  It is a place of poverty and unemployment. But the people in Shutka still know how to party and celebrate. The kids are on the streets throughout the whole day. Many of them don't even go to school, but go to the garbage dump to collect plastic bottles so they can bring them to their parents so that they can sell them to the recycling companies. And with that money most people make it through the next day, in which they collect bottles for the day after.

Many people in Shutka are happy if they find 3 day old bread, because it will save them money so they can buy some cheap soup or a pate.

Glasnost has been present in Shutka for almost 10 years. Many of kids that are coming to the preschool "Little Friends" and the kids that we meet on the Thursdays come from this kind of families. So new school shoes or shoes for a cold winter have never been in the "budget" of their parents. They simply can not afford it.
 

If you ever go to Shutka and you drive to the "Little Friends" building on the right hand side just before the preschool you will see this huge smelly dump. The smell that comes from there its unbearable at times. There are dead animals around and a lot of street dogs find their daily food there. Often is on fire and the smell then is to its highest stench. It is a proper Gehenna, and yet its the place where most of the kids "hang out" before they come to the Thursday meetings.
 
Before she moved to Macedonia in one of her visits to Skopje, Cassie-Sioux noticed that most of this kids come with really old or no shoes at all. She thought that it would be good idea if she shared this with some of her friends. And from exchanging couple of e-mails the information spread out to a few of the 24-7 prayer communities.

It was week before we got to Frankfurt and there was already 50 pairs of shoes. We thought that there would  be no chance to take so many shoes back in our suit cases! But we were really clueless for what was about to come.

In the first day in Frankfurt, there were five to six people coming to Cassie-Sioux and Philip Evans saying that they didn't bring  any shoes with them, but they would like to buy new ones from the city and give it to us so we can give it to the kids. Besides  the space issues we were already having, how can you say no to that?!

In the last day of the gathering, our eyes were getting watery  when we saw how many shoes people brought and bought. The stage was littered with brand new snow boots, house slippers and fantastic kids shoes.

While we were counting and sorting out the 160 pairs of really good kid's shoes we were imagining the constantly cold feet of the kids in Shutka, being warm this winter, for some maybe for the first time in their lives. We found  a solution to the sweet problem we had. We put as many as we could in our suitcases and backpacks and for the rest of the 100 pairs left we bought new suitcases.

But after we sorted out the packing problem, we thought that it would be a good thing to start praying for a favour  from the Lord when we get to the customs. I mean, how do you pass for free with 160 pairs of kids shoes in one of the most corrupted customs in Europe ?

Well we had the favour of the Lord. After they asked us for few questions, they let us go with no charge. It was miracle by itself.

Then we collected them in one place, sorted them by size, and then week by week, different kids were getting brand new shoes in Shutka. Their faces started shining when they saw the shoes. With great excitement and gratitude each of them was jumping around (i mean really jumping around) in their new shoes.

After each week they started bringing their friends who also needed new shoes. We have plenty now, there is enough for everyone."

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