LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Liberty University student, along with the help from an NBA star and an LU alumnus, held an event that raised $10,000 and gathered 20,000 shoes that have helped thousands in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Almost 20 years ago, Emmanuel Ntibonera, now an M.B.A. student at LU, was a refugee from the Congo, which was in the middle of a bloody war that left 5.4 million dead. He eventually emigrated to the U.S. with his parents and eight younger siblings.
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Ntibonera returned to the Congo in 2014 with some supplies, but he realized many of the people living there were in need, suffering from infections that plagued their bare feet.
Ntibonera said he and his family spent the next two years gathering shoes as they led worship in churches and conferences across the U.S. through the Ntibonera Foundation, a nonprofit he founded.
According to Liberty University, the more shoes the family gathered, the more they realized how hard it would be to deliver them to the Congo.
After a meeting with LU's senior vice president for spiritual development, David Nesser, he connected with alumnus Chris "COSeezy" Strachan. After the two met, the shoe project, Kick'n It, grew bigger and bigger.
“What I like about this project is that it started in the heart of a student, not in a boardroom,” Nesser said. “It started with us having coffee, and he just wanted his campus pastor to pray for him. Sometimes when you ask for prayer, God wants you to be the answer to the prayer. I knew when I was praying for him that God wanted Liberty to be involved.”
LU said it invited NBA star Steph Curry, a personal friend of Strachan's, to join the effort and asked students, friends and families to donate a pair of new or gently used sneakers.
Curry joined in and spoke at the Convocation in support of the drive and brought in 1,000 pairs of Under Armour shoes. Also on board was Nike, Liberty's basketball sponsor, which sent 500 pairs.
“It was a project that the entire Liberty community could take part in,” Nasser said. “Faculty, staff, even Liberty President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki, were going through their closets for shoes.”
Ntibonera and six family members returned to the Congo in July. Ntibonera went into the villages of the Congo and distributed not only 20,000 shoes, but 3,500 pounds of rice, 2,600 pounds of beans and 2,200 pounds of cornmeal, along with soap, clothing, candies and toys.
Ntibonera said the villages had never been touched by outside humanitarian efforts, and that everywhere they went, they were moved by how great the needs were, especially with the children.
“In every village that I would go, I would talk to the children,” Ntibonera said. “So many were orphans; they lost their parents during the war. We were meeting kids who were kicked out of their house, out of the family, because they came as a result of rape. Some of them have no place to sleep. They tell me they have no parents. Some of their parents went to work in mines and they died there. I met so many kids who were just about to die because they have not eaten for three to five days; they have no idea where their meals are coming from. We came on this trip to reach out to these kind of people, who are neglected.”
Ntibonera said he wants to return to the Congo next summer and take more.
"What we did with Liberty was unbelievable,” Ntibonera said. “This meant a lot. I couldn’t have done this without Liberty, without all those people who gave a pair of shoes, the people who were praying; they all made it a success. I tried to do it myself and I wasn’t able to. I couldn’t have done this without them.”