“I like to be able to feel whatever I’m standing on,” Grey says. Today he is barefoot, feet firmly planted in the mud and grass in a village in eastern Uganda. Grey hasn’t put on shoes since October.
“I’m doing No Shoes November to fight against jiggers,” says Grey, a resident of Jinja, Uganda.
Like any self-respecting 12-year-old, Grey likes being barefoot, but these past few weeks have been eye-opening. “Never having the protection of shoes is hard,” he says. “It’s nice to be barefoot but there’s a lot that can stab or scrape your foot.”
Grey says he wasn’t quite prepared for the stares he gets and for a feeling of being judged. “It’s a very visible thing,” he says.
Grey invented No Shoes November to support the work Sole Hope is doing to end jiggers in Uganda.
“My hope for this project is that I will be able to raise awareness and inspire some more shoe cutting parties,” Grey says. “I want some other kids to not have to live their whole lives like this.”
If you would like to support Grey, click HERE to donate.
