Fostering teamwork leads to wondrous achievements

Fostering teamwork leads to wondrous achievements

One Person

This is a post I began a few days ago, but I wanted to get it out. Even though the shoe drive is over, I still have lots of pictures to post, thoughts and ideas to share with people. I'll work more on my blog over Thanksgiving break. Have a safe and good time with your family and friends this Thanksgiving.
Hugs
Rachel

54,320 Shoes


27,160 Pairs of Shoes

17,570 Pairs of Shoes on the 1st truck

9,580 Pairs of Shoes on the 2nd truck

2,800 pairs of shoes that couldn't fit on the first truck

500 plus hours of community service from many

21 Schools

12 Weeks

10 Churches

7 Village Centers

3 Gyms

2 Colleges

1 Community

1 Person


We ALL made a difference in the lives of so many other people much less fortunate than ourselves.


Today I find myself with a lot of mixed emotions. I packed up the last of the shoes and cleaned out the warehouse. A chapter in my life closes. I have met so many incredible, kind, wonderful and hard working people. From the littlest ones that I got to read a book to sharing with them how I found out about Soles4Souls and telling them they too would be added to my list of friends to the elderly people that I helped by simply giving them a hug, smiling at them and saying "Thank you".

I could hear their wonder and amazement in the voices of so many. "Wow! Really! What was it like? Did you have fun? What was hard? Why are you doing this again? Did you ever think????" I smile and say to myself... No, God does all my thinking these days... I'm just a vehicle to share joy to others.

Today I spoke with a reporter from Patuxent Publishing Company. I found myself with tears in my eyes because I know how much joy all the shoes I collected will mean to the people that will get them. Happiness for others. Such a wonderful thing.

The best way I can describe my shoe drive/collection is that EVERY day when I would collect or receive more shoes I felt like a child on Christmas morning getting tons of presents.

So my tears were those of happiness for others and to have been able to successfully share their stories to so many members of the community in which I live in. Their message was heard from this county.

One person told me to imagine providing 1/2 of the Raven's Stadium with shoes. That certainly puts into perspective how many shoes I collected.

There SOME Shoes Go...Here Shoes Come

Ok.. so yesterday was a little emotional for me. The first of two trucks came to pick up the shoes that I have collected over the past two and a half months. I wanted to be sure to post lots of pictures so here goes.

First the truck arrives and backs into the truck bay.

Howard from the Tasty T-Shirt Company next door was an incredible help!

Howard and the truck driver, Henry loading up.

Half done... still more to go.

Now... that's one full truck load of shoes!!

Now... a couple of things....

1. Todd knows of all people... I'll try on any hat...and sit in any seat, at least for a moment. I remember being told... "Get out of the front seat" in Dubai and it taking a few minutes for me to figure out why women can't sit in the front seat there. Gladly after Todd said so nicely... "Rachel, we know you can... now get out of the seat" I moved rather expeditiously out of the front seat of the van to the airport. Next question, who was going with me in another van/car... because I wasn't going nowhere by myself in Dubai.

2. That picture of me in the truck... Many of you may or may not know I have a great knowledge of the trucking industry and my previous exposure in working with the Department of Transportation here in Washington, D.C. I couldn't get over Boomer the latest spokesperson for Soles4Souls. So that is my "Boomette" impression! Love you Boomer!

3. The truck was late by 2 hours and my good friend Emily was able to get my younger kids off the bus for me after she helped me pack more shoes at the warehouse. She has been such a sounding board from the very beginning of this chapter in my life. When I told her I was going to Africa right before I left Emily gave me her beads to wear that a friend had brought her from Africa and told me... that I was to return them... wearing them. In other words... to be safe. We share the same birthday and have children that know how to make a difference with compassion and empathy that are the best of friends. Here is a picture of the two of us at our kids Halloween Parade... we are the fun Moms. No sticks in the mud or Debbie Downers here.

3. Close to the end of the day I was literally running across the soccer field with three kids to get Sarah to soccer practice on time. Tagging my husband Bill and saying... "You're it" and going to pick up two more drop off locations that were taking over the facility with overflowing shoe boxes.

4. The very end of the day I got a phone call from Julie Reybold, Curtis's Mom. Curtis has been at the warehouse many many days and had me in tears the day he picked up two boxes and carried them like they were Twinkies. I struggled with one box full of shoes and here he comes with two. Curtis a senior at Reservoir High School has really taken on the lead of collecting shoes and getting them to the warehouse. He has been a wonderful inspiration to me. When I asked him one day why he was at the warehouse helping me his response was... "Because it's the right thing to do." Profound. I only hope I am raising my own children to do things because it's the right thing to do.

Ok.. time to get a move on it today. Lunches to make and children to wake.

Have a great day Everyone,

Hugs,

Rachel

Pictures

Ok... so most of you know I'm not really great about getting pictures out so here's a few.



This is from Hammond High who brought in over 3000 plus pairs of shoes!!!! Somehow, my kids are not in high school yet and I love that bear!

Wayne Elsey came and spoke at Hammond

George Carter, Me and Wayne at Howard County Community College. George gave Wayne his first job in the shoe industry and owns the shoe store in the mall right here in Columbia. Good times.

A shoe I made for my son's halloween costume a few years ago. Little did I know how much red chucks would mean to me in the future. The piles of shoes at the warehouse.

Howard High Students did an fantastic job as well. Over 1600 pairs of shoes! Awesome job everyone!

More pics of the warehouse and shoes. Lots and lots of shoes!

The pallets ready for the truck!

A little Halloween fun for the big kids too. Daphanie and Velma found a monster at our kids school...ZOINKS! My kids were Velma, Raggedy Ann and a Sock Monkey. Lot of fun was had by all.

I'm still packing and packing and packing. I'm making my final collections this week and picking up collection boxes. It's been a good shoe drive/collection. Thanks everyone for letting me be an active part in your community! WE MATTER AND WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

TO DATE WE HAVE COLLECTED 20, 470 PAIRS OF SHOES! THAT'S 40,940 SHOES IN ALL AND THAT'S A LOT OF SHOES!

Hugs,

Rachel

Hammond High School Rocks!!!

Picked up over 3,000 pairs of shoes from Hammond High School this morning. Took about 20 of us a while to match all the shoes up.... but WE DID IT!!!!! And we yelled "PAIR" every time we got a pair together! Friday, at the end of Homecoming week/Spirit week, I think we all had much fun. The kids were totally into it as well and I could not have done it without their help.

Hammond High.... you're awesome! A special shout out to Mr. Livieratos aka Mr. L. who has reached out and stepped beyond his classroom to real life situations. I could not have done it without his help and expertise.

Thank You!

Hope to see some of you this weekend at the warehouse!
Hugs
Rachel

WOW & Warehouse Times This Weekend

Ok... first...

Warehouse times this weekend

Friday evening 7pm unitl ???
Saturday 10/22 2pm until ???
Sunday 2pm until???

This is the last weekend I will be able to offer community service hours to students in Howard County.

The tractor-trailer is scheduled to come and I will be getting everything I have boxed and pallet ready for the truck. To date I have 15, 045 Shoes as well as 3 more rooms of shoes in piles that are literally up to my shoulders. I am thrilled at my community for really stepping up to the plate here.

Times are busy and I'm attempting to remain calm and carry on. It is a tad bit ku ku in my world right now and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Thanks EVERYONE for making this happen.
Hugs
Rachel

Warehouse Times for 10/22 & 10/23

Hi All,

I'll be at the warehouse this weekend. If you would like to come help rubberband and tie together shoes, bring your water bottle and come on over.

Saturday 2pm to 5pm
Sunday 2pm to 4pm

Hope to see you there.
Warmly,
Rachel

Warehouse Dates & Times 10/16/11

Hi All,

I will be at the warehouse this weekend on SUNDAY ONLY from 2 to 5pm

We have a zillion shoes to get ready for shipment. Lotta hands, little work.

Show up with a water bottle and come prepared to help sort, bundle and pack.

Zul my helper at the warehouse has been ill all week and unable to be at the warehouse. If you need to do a drop off or meet with me, you can reach me at the number below the warehouse address to the right of this blog and I will try my best to work out a time that works for both parties.

I am busy running around collecting shoes as quickly as possible. If I haven't gotten to you yet, just know If you have called and left a message for pick up that I am coming. I know the boxes are filling up quickly as the closure of this collection is quickly approaching.

Thanks again to eveyone for making me proud of our community. Having a pair of shoes really means a lot to so many others. It reaffirms my belief in one of Wayne Elsey's quotes... "To have enough to give someone else is what it truly means to be rich."

Have a great weekend all

Hugs

Rachel

Come Hear What Wayne Elsey Has To Say

What: An evening with the founder and CEO of Soles4Souls
When: Thursday October 20th, 7:00pm

Where: Monteabaro Recital Hall, Howard County Community College

RSVP: Please call (443)518-1420 or e-mail studentlife@howardcc.edu for questions.

Space is limited. You can e-mail me at requade@hotmail.com to reserve a spot if you like.

Warehouse Times 10/8 and 10/9 AND... TODD

Warehouse times this weekend:

10/7/11 - Friday 6-8pm

10/8/11 - Saturday 2-5pm

10/9/11 - Sunday 2-5pm

Bring your water bottle over and come on out. We have piles of shoes to pack and get on the pallet!

I wanted to post some pictures of Todd from my trip to Africa.

Todd is an attorney for Soles4Souls (S4S) and was really very helpful to me on this trip in many ways. He has children of his own and is very smart. He reminded me of my own brother who is also an attorney.

Todd took the time with me on our evening in Dar Es Salam to explain the micro-business process to me and explained why exactly old shoes work. If he does go on another trip I'd like to tag along with him and talk with some of the people that S4S partner's with. It is a really great concept that I fully believe in. Most importantly, I am glad that he took the time to talk with me. He also was guidance in the fire that if the need to evacuate rose where to go. Todd is a smart person with a very big heart. I love that he wanted to play bubbles with the kids at one of the orphanages we visited.

So thanks again Todd for the conversations and compassion. I sincerely and graciously appreciate all that you do.

Hope to see some faces new and old at the warehouse this weekend.

Hugs

Rachel

Moving Right Along

Please take a minute to check it out. I love this song and it's keeping me going today.

http://youtu.be/MMR5JVo21wQ

It's been a crazy week. While trying to hide the bread and microwave plate cover from the 120lb lab taking them to nibble on.... I hid them in the stove. Forgot that I put those things in the stove and went to bake some cookies. Upon turning the oven on to preheat the microwave plate cover caught on fire. 5 fire trucks later I felt like a real fool. No nobody was hurt, yes the oven still works and I ordered new racks for it today.

I then left my keys on the back of my husbands car and he drove off with them to get pizza on Friday night. Found those a mile down the road smashed to pieces.

Lastly, someone tried to break into the warehouse and vandalize it. They were NOT successfull and well that's 3 bad things in a row... now it's over.

Needless to say things have been busy. I still LOVE doing the shoe drive. I have met so many wonderful people that want to do something good. This far outweighs those hurdles I've passed in the last week.

I'm busy running around trying to keep up with all the shoes coming in and still delivering boxes to schools that want to participate in the drive. I am forever appreciative to everyone for making the process happen. It's an amazing journey and I still LOVE being a part of it.

Hugs
Rachel

Warehouse Times for the Weekend

Friday 9/30 6pm until 8pm
Saturday 10/1 2pm to 5pm
Sunday 10/2 4 to 6pm

It's the opening of soccer games this weekend and I want to be there to cheer the kids on. If you can make it out that would be great. Bring a water bottle and come on out for some good times and doing something good.

Check back Monday for an updated count of how many shoes we have collected.

Hugs,
Rachel

Check out that shoe!!!!

Is that not cool!!!

Way to go NORTHFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!!

Even a child can make a difference!

And they are SOOOO excited about the collection.

KUDOOS to KATHY BISHOP for heading this up. YOU ROCK KATHY!

Warehouse Location & Times

For those checking my blog.... just want to let you know the location of the warehouse.

9385 Washington Blvd
Laurel, Md 20723

I'll be there this weekend at the following times.

Friday: 6:30 pm to ???
Saturday: 2pm to ???? (most likely 5pm or 6pm)
Sunday: 2pm to 5pm

If you want to come down and help out... would love to have your support. If you can't make it... say a prayer for me. I do have a cd/radio player with a hanger for an antenna, we listen to tunes and have a good time while doing good work for a great cause.

Bring your water bottle and come on over.

Otherwise... I'm looking for more pictures to post here next week. If you are collecting and want to send me your pictures from your shoe drive... I'd love to have them.

Lastly, to those waiting to hear from me.... I'm super busy and trying to coordinate pick-ups and establishing people doing their current drive/collections. Please know the squeaky wheel gets greased first and I'm a human being.... not a human doing. 24 hours in a day for a reason.... constant reminders I give myself. You may have to call me or e-mail me a second time, but I sincerely and graciously appreciate ALL the wonderful work from our community!

We are making the world a better place one pair of shoes at a time.
Hugs,
Rachel

Who Is My Littlest Helper?

Who is my littlest helper yet?

Who is that helping me lift boxes out to get ready for shoes?

I always say... lotta hands... little work! And here even the littlest hand are helping.

As a parent I feel compelled to explain to our children that WE have a GOOD life here in America. That others in the world do not have something as simple as shoes to cover their feet.

What I love is when other parents share that same responsibility in educating their children. It is truly in sharing what we have learned and experienced that we benefit.

I think of Mufia often and sharing all the kids stories that I met on my trip to Africa with Soles4Souls. They can't come here, but I was fortunate enough to be able to go there and bring home their stories to others here.

Now... Who is my littlest helper? Ben of course!!!

Ben I know you'll love this post. But I must mention that Ben was one of the few men on our trip in the crazy old man's hat that I came to love seeing each and every day.

Here's a picture of Ben carrying shoes. See his Archie Bunker style hat. I loved seeing that every day!

Sofie their dog even gets into the action.

Ben, thanks for your smiles, your laughter and your smiles. Most importantly thanks for being my youngest helper yet! You ARE an AWESOME friend, neighbor, and buddy of mine!

YOU ROCK!!!

Hugs,

Rachel

Yep... That's Wayne Elsey

Ok.... so I'm finally getting a few minutes to update and post some of what's been happening. F I N A L L Y.... I'm TAKING the time because it's important to me.

Wayne is the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls and I had the great opportunity to meet with him briefly on his way home recently from a speaking engagement.

At first I was a little floored that someone who had a vision for others to not be shoeless wanted to meet me. Then I realized I'm just like him. We want to see things happen and see people get off of the couch and do something. Not just talk about it. It takes courage, faith and willingness to take a risk and do something that hasn't been done before. Those are the traits that I see in both of us. Being willing to take a chance and if it fails well then at least we tried. If it succeeds than what a wonderful thing to make the lives of others better.

At his suggestion I called Mrs. Busch, Wayne's 10th grade english teacher who he writes about in his book, Almost Isn't Good Enough. It had been raining non-stop for days. Streets were flooding out right and left, schools were having a hard time starting due to electrical outages and well I think I was just feeling a little down so I decided to give her a call. What a great woman. So full of energy and spunk. I loved having the conversation with her and hope to go meet her one day soon.

This is me and Sean Lewis. Sean is the Faith Engagement Manager at the Soles4Souls Headquarter office in Tennessee. In other words, he works with a lot of churches and religious organizations that want to get involved with Soles4Souls.

Which brings me to another important topic. One of the questions I continually get asked in doing my shoe drive is "what church or religious organization are you with?". Soles4Souls has NO religious affiliation which is one of the reasons why I like them. I'm not against religion I simply try to keep things simple. Being shoeless doesn't care about your color, race, religion or beliefs. It's a lot like hunger, aids and cancer. When you don't have shoes on your feet, you don't have shoes on your feet. The other thing that comes to mind is that out of the group that went to Africa, we were all people that wanted to do something for the good of all people. Imagine me with 20 other people and not really knowing anyone else. After our first 12.5hr flight and definately by the end of the trip it was sad to say goodbye to some of the great people I got to spend 10 days with.

On that note, I'm going to go collect some more filled boxes and take them to the warehouse.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs

Rachel

The Warehouse

Where have I been at?

At the warehouse of course! Rubberbanding and tying shoes.

I've been very busy collecting and compiling shoes. Working with men, women, and children boxing and moving shoes.

This pile of shoes all belong to the kid size pile.

To the left is a pile of single shoes... looking for a mate. Believe it or not many people in the world only have one leg.

This is where I hope to say good bye to all the shoes I've collected. The truck loading bay.

The empty warehouse. It's always good to have a before picture. The boxes were donated by the Tasty T-Shirt company located next door.

Tasty T-Shirt Company is also providing shrink wrap and want to be there to help load the truck when it comes.

Thank you Tasty T-Shirt Company!!! You are all AWESOME!!!

I have been very busy going around and talking with a lot of schools and picking up shoes at the various gyms and village centers. For those checking this blog, just know I'm running about a day or two behind in getting back to people. There are a lot of schools in Howard County.

I continue to see the joyful faces of the children we visited in orphanages that were so eager to have someone come and spend just a few hours with them. In my mind I continually see little ones offering me their bowl of porage or maize in exchange for shoes. I miss my little people and want them all to know I'm working hard here trying to make their world a better place.

A shout out to Harriet Baker. She is collecting shoes from Tennessee and sending them directly to the warehouse there. If anyone else wants to do that, let me know. Harriet.... if I could give you a big hug I would. It is my hope after the shoe drive to continue with the Kigoma Project and make pillowcase dresses for the girls in the orphanages that we visited who are in need of clothes.

The kindness of others continues to fog my mind on a repeated basis. When I hug someone these days... it's a hug that I mean. The human contact. The getting off the couch and doing something not just talking about doing it. It cost me nothing to smile and someone and somedays that's all I have to give and yet... it may make another persons day to have a complete stranger simply smile at them.

Ok... being the Mommy of three that I am I have to put on my "homework hat" and go figure out some geometery, cook dinner and get to the PTA meeting at school.

Hugs to you all,

Rachel

Hurricane Irene & Schools

Hi Friends,

Just a short post. I've been really really REALLY busy with shoes.

We survived hurricane Irene. Lost power at 11pm on Saturday evening and had none on Sunday until 9:30pm. We lost some lunch meat and a few frozen peas....

We gained some good family game time, everyone out doing clean-up of their yards, an ice cream party galore, a glow stick party in the evening and some really great grilling from neighbors. Love those peas!!!!

The warehouse that has been donated to me was fine and so was our home. No structural damage at either location.

I've been busy working with getting many Howard County Schools and churches on board with collecting. I'm also looking forward to working with the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts. I'm inundated with shoes and quite frankly... I LOVE IT.

Just the other day, Danny from the Tasty T-Shirt company offered to help me out with pallets, boxes and shrink wrap. I made those famous chocolate chip cookies for him today as a thank you. Since the oven is working now... I can do that and I really appreciate his pleasant attitude and willingness to help show me the how and why of a warehouse.

So... I'm a busy woman. No school today for the first day of school due to lack of electricity.

Please keep others who are still without power and their needs not being met in your thoughts. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Hugs
Rachel

A Slide Show I Put Together After My Trip with Soles4Souls

A Deep Breath Of Life

Ok... so much has happened within the last 24 hours. I am completely amazed at how sharing my story and believing in a purpose is changing people. When I first went to Africa with Soles4Souls to put shoes on children in orphanages.... I thought it was to see the world and be able to give it and others something back. Little did I know this was going to be the course or path I would be on. The shoe drive has taken off in leaps and bounds. So many people are telling me what an inspiration I am and all I did was listen to my heart and not my head. Lately, my heart has been telling me to take deep breaths and realize... I am living the dreams I have had. To be able to give.

People are reaching out from all areas. I'm trying to tweet and well... I'm trying. I tried to put that graph/meter on my blog and well... it doesn't look right either... but... I'm NOT giving up on technology... nope, nope, nope.... I am not going to let it get the best of me.

For tonight let me just say... I made the time to take my daughter and her friend to the new American Girl store in Tyson's Corner for her 10th birthday. She smiled and laughed and took her doll as well and we were able to have dinner there. Something we didn't think we would be able to do. At the end of it all, she was bubbling over with joy and looked at me and said... "Mom, that was really cool. Thanks." It's moments like those that I will cherrish for years and moments I hope I can recall when she's learning how to drive or going out on a date.

My heart does not lie to me. Therefore, I listen to it. I am sincerely grateful for the outpouring of support and love that I have gotten in attempting to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes. For tonight, I'm gonna lay my body down, take a deep breath of life, and thank the power greater than myself for giving me another day to be a positive part of the world.

Hugs
Rachel

Columbia woman hopes to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes for African children

Columbia woman hopes to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes for African children

50,000 Pairs of Shoes

That's a lot of shoes!!!

That's the goal I have set to attain by end of October. Once I can educate myself more on how to put my flier on this blog I'll add that and all those that are working with me in achieving my goals. I hope to also add a thermometer to show where I'm at in collection. I can tell you the recipe from the back of the bag to make chocolate chip cookies because I've made them so many times. My blogging skills are no where near as good as my cookies taste. So bear with me. I need to get the Queen of Blogging over again to help me with this. She is a whole entire different blog about how much she has been a friend to me and what a WONDERFUL job she is doing at raising her beautiful, compassionate and caring children. Back to shoes...

So far I have many many many people involved. I'd like to give a shout out to the following:
Most importantly, my Mom for giving me compassion, patience and love that she did. My Mom made me the person I am today. I know there were many times when she would have liked to as she put it... "take me out of this world..." but she didn't.

My husband Bill and our three children, Stephen, Grace and Sarah. They continually walk over piles of shoes in my house and give me a constant source of energy, entertainment and love.

Guy Guzzone and EZ Storage on Route 1 for getting and donating warehouse space to house all these shoes until the end of October.
To Father Miller and Denise Stanley at St. Bernadine's off of Edmondson's Avenue in Baltimore
To Emily Wofford, Tina Ferguson, and Bill Schneider - my cheering section
To Emily Aubrey-Frock for the countless collection of shoes in Towson Baltimore
To Msgr Luca at St. Louis Church in Clarksville, follow the message in my heart, not my head.
To My sister Cathy who helped me design my flier and continually entertains my children with her antics
Michelle James for her sharing her insight and expertise and experience with compassion and patience.
The NAACP Howard County Youth Council
The Columbia Village Association, Carol Wasser and the Village Managers for allowing me to place a drop off box in their office.
Our Pediatricians, Pediatric Associates in Ellicott City.
The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland
Nicole Langford at Soles4Souls Headquarters in Nashville, TN for her guidance and laughter.

There are so many people who have helped me and those are just the few that are on my mind today. I'm sure I've forgotten someone, but I COMPLETELY believe in the "village" concept. I couldn't do this without a lot of help from a lot of people.

An article will be coming out in this Thursday's Columbia Flier and Howard County Times with more information on the drive/collection.

Is a collection of 50,000 pairs of shoes possible? I don't know, but I'm about to find out and I hope I can say at the end of October.... "WOW WHAT A RIDE!!!"

Hugs
Rachel

Being Human

Hi All,



I've been wondering what I wanted my next topic to blog about to be and am struggling maintaing my computer skills and trying to figure out how to do things. This file goes here, click that button, then do this. It all becomes a little confusing to me, but I haven't given up hope yet that I'll get it. I do need to reach out and ask for help or simply sit down and take the time to ... read the instructions in the "how to" section however many times it takes to figure something out.






My lack of skills at blogging caused me to laugh and say to myself... "Hey Rachel... anyone tell you you're a human being not a human doing lately". Of course I smiled and took the moment to simply be in the present.



Summer is coming to an end and everyone is out school shopping. Young adults are preparing to head off to college and I've begun walking with our 3 children in the morning a little earlier each day. Just yesterday I noted that there was a chill in the air as the kids said... "C'mon Mom get in the pool".



Recently I have been able to tell the stories of so many children I met in Africa to others. I am currently working on a shoe drive/collection in the Columbia/Baltimore/DC area and am bringing incrediable awareness to the fact that others truly do not own a pair of shoes. In talking with others, I find that I am able to look at them in the eye and am amazed that we as Americans just sort of forget how good we have it in our country. We get up, many of us get up from a nice bed and have breakfast of a cup of coffee. We get dressed and go about our daily litney of things to do eventually ending the day by going back to our nice bed to re-energize for the next day.

The Thoughts in My Mind Today

Today I woke and still found myself laughing about this picture. I'm so glad that Ben took it. It has given me a constant reminder that it is important to play and laugh.

This is me swinging from a vine in Gombe National Park. It was very hard to hang onto that vine, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. It was one of those "hang on" moments where I said to myself... "you're in for a ride girl!"

After just two days of helping kids I didn't really think I needed to go "chimpanzee treking". But the people at Soles4Souls knew we would need a break and arranged for us to have some play time. Play is important and I really needed the break from seeing so much devastation in little people.

This picture is me sitting with Brandy and simply taking in all the beauty around me. I was completely covered with clothing to avoid mosquito's and my clothes were drenched from the heat, but I'm so glad that I went.

I loved seeing the shoe truck behind us. Yes those shoe were with us everywhere we went and there were always people there to help us with them.

I also really liked playing soccer with the kids. They were really good at it. Note the bottle of water in hand. Some kids that didn't have a soccer ball used old t-shirts and string and stuff that they had found to make a soccer ball. Regardless, we all took turns running and playing with the kids.

Oh how patient the kids would sit and wait. Lines and lines of them.... so many.

Harriet held this little one for the longest time. Sometimes all we need is a hug. It the human connection factor. When things get crazy all many people want is to simply be loved. This picture captured that for a few moments this child got to know love.

Note the fingernail polish. The kids were fascinated with it. I don't know that they had ever seen it. Something so simple put a smile on faces. I think I speak for the group that none of us thought or were worried about getting aids, malaria, or yellow fever when it came to simply showing acts of kindness on this entire trip.

I'll leave you with a favorite image of mine. It has stayed with me for years.

A simple drop of water.

Water is so valuable in Africa. They teach us in elementary school food, water and shelter are the three things you need in order to survive. I like to take it a step further and say that even a drop of water has a ripple effect. It matters to so many others the simple actions of one individual. One can make a difference. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I life the Soles4Souls motto of "changing the world, one pair at a time".

Hugs,

Rachel

ZEBRA'S

ZEBRA's ZEBRA's ZEBRA's

Today's post is for my friend Josh. Josh is 4 or 5 now and has repeatedly asked his Mom where are the pictures of Zebra's from Rachel's trip. So Joshua... this one is for you.

The Zebra's in Kigoma, Tanzania were amazing to watch. We were instructed that if they charged us to raise our hands up and yell... "hey" to make ourselves look bigger. Zebra's run just like a horse and therefore sound just like a horse galloping. So if I heard a galloping horse I would turn around and prepare to see a zebra coming or going someplace quickly. We often would laugh among our group that it was persons job at the hotel to watch the zebra's and make sure they and the people around them were safe. By the time we left the hotel I believe we were all glad that man was there watching those zebra's.

There were 3 on the hotel grounds and I was close enough to touch them, but dared not to. I can hear just fine and I heard the advice from our guide to not come within 10 meters of the zebra's.

Upon leaving the hotel we were told that two of the zebra's were pregnant females and there was one male. I don't remember their names, but I do remember the feeling of coming back to camp and seeing them and thinking... "Ok... I'm home for a while now, I can rest".

I had one encounter with a zebra upon going to dinner one night. I had overslept for mealtime and someone came to make sure I was ok. Upon walking out my bungalow door I was greeted by a black and white striped animal and practiced the "Hey... don't I look bigger" philosophy. It really did work. The zebra ran one way and I ran the other.

I also saw baboon's, chimpanzee's, and African butterflies, and goats. I saw many many birds and remember them following us in the boat. While it was amazing to see all the animals that I saw I want you all to know I went to meet and visit with the people of Africa. They touched my heart, my life, and changed my world forever.

Joshy... I love you buddy. Hope you like the pictures of the zebra's

Hugs

Rachel