How a painful problem became a movement of hope in Uganda.
Sole Hope began when we met children in Uganda who could not walk without pain and realized almost no one was addressing the cause. This is the story of how a simple idea grew into a locally led response that helps children heal from jiggers, protects their feet, and restores dignity.
Today, Sole Hope is recognized as a leader in jigger treatment and children’s foot health in Uganda. Our work combines medical care, education, shoes, and whole person support so children can walk in freedom again.
Seeing what no one else was treating.
We did not know the word jiggers the first time we arrived in Uganda. Most people around the world do not. But we could not ignore what we saw.
We met children who limped toward us. Children carried on the backs of older siblings. Children trying to hide their feet behind their hands. Their toes were swollen and raw. Some could not stand without crying.
Mothers held their children tightly while we looked. Some wiped tears from their faces. Some apologized, even though they had done nothing wrong. Many were afraid their children would never walk normally again.
We learned that jiggers are a parasitic sand flea that burrows into the skin, lays eggs, and causes intense pain and infection. They spread where families live with mud floors and limited resources. They keep children out of school and strip away dignity.
We searched for organizations addressing the problem. We could not find any. We looked for national strategies or global attention. There was almost nothing.
We checked the World Health Organization’s list of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Jiggers were not listed. They were more overlooked than the most neglected diseases on earth.
A preventable crisis was harming thousands of children in Uganda, with almost no coordinated response. No clinics focused on treating it. No prevention teaching. No protective shoes made locally for children living in poverty.
We realized this was a problem we could help solve. We needed to respond.
A simple closed toe shoe that changed everything.
We started small. We traced and cut patterns from old denim. Ugandan tailors stitched the pieces. Local shoemakers formed soles from recycled tires. What emerged was a simple, strong, closed toe shoe that protected healing feet and gave children a safe way to walk again.
The first time we placed a pair on a child’s feet, everything changed. A child who had been limping stood a little taller. A mother exhaled for the first time in days. We saw a path forward.
That early work did more than give children shoes. It created dignified work for Ugandan families. It kept denim and tires out of landfills. It built a solution that made sense in Uganda, not a temporary fix from somewhere else.
These simple closed toe shoes protect children from reinfestation and open up opportunities that going barefoot held them back from. School. Play. Confidence. Possibility.
A locally led team serving children across Uganda.
Today, Sole Hope is led by a remarkable Ugandan team. We have 62 staff members who serve children and families with skill, humility, and compassion.
Our team includes doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, community educators, drivers, tailors, shoemakers, and local leaders who know every village and every story.
In our shoemaking workshop, artisans craft every pair of shoes by hand using recycled denim and tire soles. These shoes protect children from reinfestation and open up opportunities that going barefoot held them back from.
With this team, our work has grown into a comprehensive response that cares for the whole child.
- Weekly school and community clinics that provide jigger removal, wound care, and education.
- The Hope Center, a short term residential program for children with severe cases.
- Prevention and hygiene teaching that helps families stop jiggers before they start.
- Community based social work that supports families in the hardest situations.
- Mental health and counseling services that address shame, fear, and trauma.
- Hospital partnerships that fast track the most serious cases.
- Women’s Savings Groups that help families build stability over time.
- Medical professionals caring for children’s feet and overall health.
- Social workers and psychologists walking with families through hard stories.
- Tailors and shoemakers crafting protective shoes from recycled materials.
- Community educators teaching prevention and children’s health in Uganda.
Together, they form one team focused on helping children in Uganda walk in freedom.
From villages in Uganda to living rooms around the world.
Sole Hope’s story is bigger than one organization. It is a growing movement of people who refuse to look away from a problem they can help solve.
Around the world, thousands of people host Shoe Cutting Parties. They gather friends, lay denim on tables, trace patterns, and cut out shoe uppers that will be finished by our team in Uganda.
It is simple. It is hands on. It connects your everyday life to a child’s healing on the other side of the world.
Want to be part of the story?
You can host a Shoe Cutting Party, support clinics, or help provide shoes and care for children who are waiting for relief.
Learn about Shoe Cutting PartiesYou can help write the next chapter.
Our story is shaped by children who take their first pain free steps in months, by parents who feel hope return, and by communities that grow stronger when their children are healthy and free. Your support helps make that possible in Uganda.
See how you can get involved