are we on the right track?

virginia and i have certainly considered a number of options over the past few months and have spent time bouncing ideas around with our fellow 'activists'! For the benefit of others, it might be worth mapping out a few of our options and thoughts regarding the possibilities.

1. would it be more economical to simply raise the cash and arrange to purchase the shoes in Malawi? Not only would this cut out the freight issue but would also contribute to the Malawi economy.
2. what was the price of a pair of secondhand shoes in Malawi or would it be better to go for new shoes in Malawi?
3. if freighting, would it be better by air or surface mail and how on earth was this sort of thing arranged?? what companies do this type of work and what costs are involved? customs? quarrantine?

We certainly considered purchasing shoes in Malawi. The options included new shoes and secondhand shoes. After discussion with a few individuals, the feeling was that the quality of new shoes purchased in Malawi was probably not that high and would not last well long term. Secondhand shoes could possibily be purchased in "bulk" before hitting the markets, and would probably be of a better , more sturdy quality. The point we kept returning to was that many people were handpicking shoes from their wardrobe specifically for this project and not necessarily their most worn out ones. In this way, the shoes were a physical gift, specifically chosen for the people of the village and represented the 'friendship' aspect and desire to reach out from homes in australia to the village itself.

Shoe-pal 2 was working hard with her mum to spread the word about the collecting and results were being seen on a significant scale.

Shoe-pal 1 was negotiating with his teachers and making progress in leaps and bounds regarding the collecting of shoes in his area.

At this point we decided to continue the physical collection and not restrain the process - when we had reached the cap of the numbers we would send, the rest would be converted into currency to fund the freight - if the shoe supply is ongoing, we already have a few more projects in mind. Car boot sales and markets seemed the most likely way to go to do this and so we decided to continue as we were for the time being.