Special-edition, Congolese-inspired TOMS Shoes
We're teaming up with Giving Partner Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), an advocacy and grant-making organization founded by Ben Affleck, on two Congolese-inspired designs with an additional give. Read More >>
TOMS x charity: water - An Eyewer collaboration
TOMS and charity: water, an organization founded in 2006 (like TOMS!) that’s dedicated to to helping bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, join forces for the first-ever TOMS Eyewear collab! Read More >>
Giving TOMS Shoes in the DRC
Founded by Ben Affleck in 2010, ECI is an advocacy and grant-making organization that works with and for the people of DRC, the third most populous country in Africa, and one that struggled under a cycle of violence for nearly 20 years – particularly in the east. Read More >>
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Profiles in One for One: Giuli
Giving new TOMS with Buckner International in Peru means distributing shoes through holistic community development programs including health and family services and education. To be sure health education “sticks,” Buckner’s Giuli uses art and drama workshops to teach children the importance of basic hygiene like hand-washing, drinking clean water and wearing shoes to help preserve their health.
“We give services like deworming pills and food programs, and with that, we start teaching children how to protect themselves and why they need to do certain things,”Giuli explains. “We do this through workshops, classes, stories. I’m a drama teacher, so I like to share these stories and messages.”
Before each distribution, the amazing Giuli puts on a play about hookworm using props and costumes. In it, she explains what the tiny parasite does to their bodies and how it can be prevented. By the end of the performance, her audience of kids is actively engaged, shouting at her main character to wash his hands and put on his shoes.
Giuli’s theatrical approach comes from her own experience. As a child, she was very shy and had difficulty talking to people, not unlike many of the children she works with in Buckner’s Healthy Families program. After studying drama, she found that she was able to better express herself through art and theater and has brought it to her work with Buckner ever since.
“Art, in general, helps kids to be aware of what things are around them,” Giuli explains. “If you show [kids] a skit or a drama, they will never forget it because they are living what they are learning.”
