Now the initial excitement is over and the shoeboxes are opened and contents explored there is the joy and expectation that the box will be shared with the family, extended family and, in some cases, the whole village.


Most of the children who receive the shoe box gifts live in the poorest of conditions, in one room often tied together with rope, plastic tarps for roof and walls, dirt floors, perhaps a communal table that serves as a bed for the whole family, no clean water, open sewers, no privacy and often under threat of eviction if the government requires the land.


To have simple gifts to share brightens their often drab lives, and gives them and their families a real sense that someone cares.

Coming Next - What shoebox contents do the children really love?