Posted: 7/21/06
| Children at First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls were excited to have the opportunity to participate in missions by providing flip-flops for children on two continents. |
Flip-flops provide perfect
fit for foreign AIDS orphans
By George Henson
Staff Writer
WICHITA FALLS—Flip-flop sandals may be inexpensive, but First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls is using them to teach children a valuable lesson—you’re never too young to take part in missions.
Children 3 years old through the sixth grade are collecting flip-flops for adults to distribute when they take mission trips to Brazil and Malawi this summer.
A group recently left for a trip to Teresina, Brazil, to build a church.
Jeff White is part of a three-person team that will plant community gardens and visit orphanages in Africa. His group hopes to distribute about 60 pairs of sandals to grandmothers to give to children in a village.
“Most children live with the grandmothers because they have been orphaned by AIDS. We have been told to give them to the grandmothers, because if we give them directly to the children, older children will beat them up and take them away. If the grandmothers give them to the children, that won’t be a problem,” he explained.
The idea for the flip-flop giveaway grew out of the experience of another group from the church that made the trip last year and noticed the villagers had no footwear. Flip-flops were chosen over conventional shoes because more pairs can be compacted into a smaller space, they weigh less, and they will be cooler on the feet of the people living in warm climates.
“I thought it would be better than taking necklaces or something like that as gifts because the sandals would be more useful,” White said.
Appropriately, the group found a way to include the church’s children in the mission trip. White serves the church are children’s recreation coordinator, and Carson McGowan is an intern in the children’s ministry.
Tammy Trembley, administrative assistant to the children’s and preschool ministries director, said the church’s children have been excited about the project and have brought colorfully designed sandals.
“They have brought flip-flops with brightly colored flowers and Garfield on them—the things that are enticing to kids anywhere,” she said.
“It’s kids helping kids,” White explained.
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