World Health Day – Sole Hope

World Health Day is a global health awareness day that has been celebrated every year on the 7th of April since 1950. Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) focuses on one specific health topic, raising awareness and promoting action.

A jigger is a tiny flea that burrows into bare feet, causing pain so severe that children in Uganda and across Africa can’t walk, sleep, or attend school. It’s a crisis most people have never heard of. Sole Hope is doing something about it in the most ingenious way by teaching communities around the world to cut recycled denim into shoe patterns that Ugandan shoemakers then complete with tire soles and distribute to children who need them most.

Students in Greeley, Colorado’s National Honor Society took this on — hosting a shoe-cutting party, collecting 78 pairs of jeans, and raising nearly $400 to help fund shipping and medical relief. This activity invites your students to do the same. Using the Design Thinking Process, they learn about the problem, explore how Sole Hope is solving it, and then figure out how their own Time, Talent, and Treasure can contribute. It’s hands-on, globally connected, and a powerful reminder that sometimes changing a child’s life starts with a pair of scissors and an old pair of jeans.