The beginning of the year can be very stressful for parents, who need to make sure that their children are ready for school. To support economically disadvantaged pupils, The Chinese embassy in South Africa has donated 2 000 pairs of school shoes.
The latest one million school shoes campaign donation drive took place in Orange Farm (Johannesburg) this past weekend. In a written message, Ambassador Chen Xiaodong said his embassy would continue to support the campaign.“Although we cannot meet in person, for now, our hearts are always together. When I first arrived in South Africa in September last year, I heard that due to the financial straits caused by the [Covid-19] pandemic, many students’ families even had difficulties in buying school shoes. So I immediately expressed my hope to make more contributions to the one million school shoes project,” he said.
“The biggest challenge facing South Africa today is the exacerbated poverty caused by the pandemic. As former president,Nelson Mandela said, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world, and the development of education is the main path to get rid of poverty,” Xiaodong added.
The one million school shoes campaign has also distributed 500 pairs of new school shoes to needy children in Orange Farm. The beneficiary pupils were selected from 12 schools in the area. The handover ceremony was held in accordance with Covid-19 protocols on gatherings and attended by selected pupil representatives, school principals, and Johannesburg city councillors.
“We are delighted to have been able to make this humble contribution to the needy learners. As the campaign, we have since inception collected and donated over 150 000 pairs which were donated by individuals, companies, and foreign representatives in South Africa,” said Campaign Secretary, Brian Dube.
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