Lets set the scene and take a few steps back to arrive at the beginning. Blake Mycoskie is the founder and chief shoe giver heading up the TOMS organization in the U.S. To vaguely quote the TOMS website, In 2006 traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One.

Most children in developing countries grow up barefoot.Walking is often the primary mode of transportation. Children can walk for miles to get food, water, shelter and medical help. Wearing shoes literally enables them to walk distances that arent possible barefoot. Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation. Many times children cant attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they dont have shoes,
they dont go to school. If they dont receive an education, they dont have the opportunity to realize their potential. There is one simple solution...SHOES.So that takes care of the shoes portion of the story, what about the boards? Well, it turns out that Johnny Schillereff and Blake are mates and being mates, they chat shop over a couple cold ones. This gives rise to the Element/TOMS collaboration and the production of TOMS Element boards and Element TOMS shoes. Pick up what Im putting down?

Fast forward to the 10th of October and we have 33 335 pairs of TOMS shoes and 200 Element complete boards ready for delivery to the youth of South Africa. Cynic 0, World 1. We had driven up the week prior to organize any last minute chaos that is involved in bringing product into this country for benevolent purposes, and lets just say its not easy and it was chaotic. The drive, as always, was an exhilarating experience through the vehicle-friendly environs of the former Transkei. The fi nal body count for the drive up, ended with: 19 dead dogs, a family of 4 Hadedas, 1 cow, the near miss of another cow and a pedestrian who was sucked into the path of a truck! The sad state of our roads and the attitudes of drivers once again provide evidence to the fact that life is cheap in the good ?ol Republic we call home. This also makes it 2 out of 2 for witnessing the human body mangled by a moving vehicle on the same stretch of tar. Makes you think of Newtons third law. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, a truck moving in direction A hitting a person travelling in direction B, smashes the shit out of the person! We were destined to meet up with Bod in Ballito, our base for the next couple days, so 12 and 1/2 hours of driving brought us within sight of home. Feather foot, as Clint would become known on the trip, and I had been in 2 almost identical Volkswagen T5 Kombis for the drive up, thanks to TAVCOR in Port Elizabeth. We maintained sanity by conversing on our trusty two-way radios. It felt a bit like something from Smokey and the Bandit, and gave rise to the inevitable Roger, Tango type sign off after every chirp. The two-ways proved both useful and not so useful over the course of the next 2 weeks. Not so useful when the Feather foot had got lost and spat the dummy because he was antagonized by yours truly?.

We spent the next couple days jumping through hoops to get around some pretty impressive red tape for the shoes to be delivered. We passed the time skating with the boys and pushing (read hurting) ourselves. We hit up the bowl in Ballito for some fun and games. I reckon with a little effort from the local skaters, the old girl could be returned to her former glory. We also had the chance to skate the Richards Bay Park, which is defi nitely worth a visit. The locals were cool and eager to spill the beans on what had transpired with all the teams that had come to visit prior to our unannounced arrival. An added bonus was the opportunity to see the energy sapping awesomeness that is an aluminium smelter. I managed to buy a piece of the small bowl as a keepsake from the trip. Nice. As the 10th approached, and most of the paperwork and deliveries of boards and shoes was coming together, we started collecting all the people involved in making the trip possible. Our fi rst pick up was the Angel of Mercy herself, Ana Maria, who was responsible for all the logistics for TOMS. We played a fun game of Spot the guest at the airport and settled on the assumption that she would be 500kgs of Latino heat! We ended up looking supremely guilty upon her arrival, great fi rst impression. We later had to admit to our assumption over dinner; much to the amusement of Ana Maria, who it turns out is more of an Elf in stature than anything else. Body had the pleasure of enduring constant ragging during the rest of her stay, as we likened his hugging technique to that of an anorexic bear mauling a small child. Over the next day or so we assembled an awesome mix of people ready to do their bit for the benefi t of others. TOMS staff and volunteers made up the majority of the group, with Element Advocate, Amy Purdy, Pro Skateboarder and super sub Levi Brown, Ryan Kingman and Mark Falkenstein from Element global with Paul from FUEL TV bringing up the rear. More on team SA later.

Drop Day 1: Indigo Skate Camp ? Valley of 1000 Hills
The day started pretty early for all and would set the tone for the entirety of the trip. As you may have fi gured out by now this was more of a humanitarian exercise than a full on skate trip. The agenda was simple for the day: drive around 40 people to the Isithumba Village, home of the camp and Msomi household, and deliver boards and shoes to the greater community. Driving down the long winding stretch of tar to camp always brings a sense of anticipation and the bus was fi lled with nervous energy from all concerned. On the descent into the valley we were constantly greeted by smiling faces and enthusiastic waving. This scene was to be repeated for the majority of the trip and is always a reminder that the people in this country are amped to see and meet new people. Upon arrival, our intrepid group of volunteers and staff started unloading the boxes. It was pretty interesting to sit back and watch the looks of awe on all the faces as they walked down the path to the ramps. The setting is defi nitely surreal with hills framing the facility as if hand-placed by the Gods. Once the initial excitement had passed, the business of giving shoes out started. All the while the skaters had a jam session on both ramps. A highlight for me was standing on the decks of the large ramp with Kingman, talking shop, when we see a small Zulu boy of about 8 years old freshly kitted out in some new shoes, grab the nearest board and proceed to drop in and Rock Fakie the crap out of it! Indigo is the training ground for the future vert kings for sure. It was an amazing day, so much so, that Blake cancelled his fl ights to stay longer and not miss out on anything. The new garden was opened, and we were all treated to a bit of the Zulu culture with the kids putting on some traditional garb and dancing and singing the day out. The drive out the valley was a hair raising one as the mist rolled in to make things interesting along the winding tar. We headed back to HQ, which for the remainder of the trip was at Dallas house. A sprawling pad at the right address near the right places.

Drop Day 2: Umthombo Safe Space ? Durban
The morning of the drop had me in mixed spirits as to what we were trying to achieve, with questions of sustainability of the shoe and board drops, and how we all fi t into the social responsibility mindset that permeates society. In my humble and uneducated opinion about the cause and effect facing kids and people living on the streets of our urban sprawl, I do feel that anybody or organization trying to help displaced individuals rebuild their lives and communities need to be supported. A skateboard magazine might not be the fi rst place someone would look to fi nd a comment on our social evolution, but we as skateboarders are part of the urban sprawl environment because of what we do. We see fi rsthand, the outcasts from civil society. Skateboarding has always been the social outcasts choice of activity, so we are in a sense members of the street childrens alliance. This drop was by far the most emotionally charged of all the subsequent drops. I was not witness to all the events of the morning, as I was driving around looking for a couple of the skateboarding street children to ensure they got hooked up with fresh boards, but by all accounts the handing out of simple shoes and boards brought home the fact that what was going on was a step in the right direction. Pun intended. The kids insisted on giving us a surf demo, so the intrepid among us skated from the Point road area to New Pier, while the volunteers mounted their chariot and headed for the same destination. The beachfront looks as though a bomb has been detonated with the amount of construction and deconstruction going on. We skated down to North beach and were astounded to see earth moving equipment destroying the bowled area of the park closest to the old Indigo shop. We did fi nd out later that this was part of the Master plan for the beach front of Dirt bin, and a rebuild and extension plan was in place to improve the current facility. The international contingent moved their part of the trip into tourist mode and headed east for a stay at Hluhluwe and the best game viewing opportunity one can get. Mama Africa continues to deliver and surprise all comers. We had the next day off and decided to get some footage for the new, free, AV Skateboarding destined for imminent release. Thabo had made the trip out from JHB for the drop, sorry Siya we hope you understand? He was joined by Dlamini of the Dlamini clan, who was subsequently dubbed D2 for our foreign friends, who try as they might, couldnt pronounce D L A M I N I. We headed for the beach and proceeded to skate the pool and stair combo seen in the previous magazine. D2 is the silent assassin for sure. Not one to mouth off at any opportunity or tell you about a personal pool TF facility - Mullet, he just dropped the hammer and skated. Quite a contrast to Thabo, who is fueled by Duracell or something and never ever stops moving, talking, skating or getting up to mischief. Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt change any of it. The combination of these guys seemed to push the level constantly. The HUX/Revolution Park we skated can attest to this fact.

Drop Day 3: Saphinda Primary School ? Umlazi
We headed into town to meet up with Tim from Peace Players International, www.peaceplayers.com, who would be our guide for the journey out to Saphinda Primary in Umlazi. Peace Players are involved in spreading the word of sport and social upliftment via basketball, and have a skills exchange program on the go at various locations around SA and the world. We didnt have anywhere to skate at Saphinda, but the teachers were keen to get some skating going for the kids and this is an avenue for future trips. We all got stuck in distributing the bounty and I was reminded how small the world is and how funny assumptions can be, when a small boy asked me if I knew Chris Brown. Chris Brown the singer, I asked? To which the reply was, Yes, whats he like? It was hilarious, as he thought this pale face must be from America, and not from SA. Jamie from DOPE Industries, and I then tried our damndest to remember all the isiXhosa, because were from the Western and Eastern province, we were ever taught at school to convince him we were natives. Class: Molo Titshalakazi. Teacher: Molweni Bafundi. Anyhow, after these failed attempts at proving residence, we all gathered for a meal prepared by the teachers and sat down with the governing body of the school for lunch. Speeches were made, thanks was offered and received, and we left with a renewed sense hope for the future and our next shoe drop destination. We headed south to the Sacred Heart Childrens Home situated in rural Umtwalume, which is supported by the good people of Thanda, www.thanda.org, whose main focus is dealing with supporting children orphaned by AIDS. Dallas had been taking explorative trips further south a part of his latest venture; Indigo Youth Movement, and was instrumental in tying in all the NGOs for the trip. There are some road improvements from just after the Sipofu turn off and there is plenty of opportunity to bomb those hills in the area! The Sacred Heart facility overlooks an impressive valley and we did the shoe drop in the hall of the church, which echoed with the voices of all the children getting their personal fi tting. It might also be a good time to mention that each child is personally fi tted with the shoes to check the correct fi t and all concerned were on their hands and knees making it happen. Amy Purdy was an inspiration during the trip; she is a snowboarder, skateboarder, makeup artist, actress, and model and is also a double leg amputee. Check out www.amypurdy.com for more info. Dont ever let me hear you whine about life being hard and how tough you think youve got it. Cry me a river, Justin! A fl at ground skate ensued on the disused tennis court while the little nippers were being fi tted with shoes, much to the excitement of the children. Dallas got one of his prodigys out the crowd of smiling faces, and she proceeded to skate her heart out amongst the throng. After we had done pretty much the entire 500-odd strong recipient list, we headed back to HQ in Durban, while our colleagues headed for Hibberdene for the night.

Drop Day 4: Murchison Primary School ? Port Shepstone
This would be the last time we would leave from Dally wood, as from here on out we were making our way down the coast and heading to the fi nal destination for the drops; Port Shepstone. Just out from the Oribi Plaza, heading for Murchison, we came across an old guy pushing himself coffi n style along the road on a dilapidated skateboard. It was a perfect opportunity to keep the spirit of the trip alive, so we executed a perfectly synchronized U-turn, and pulled up next to him. We jumped out and explained our good intentions. He was ecstatic with the upgrade and made off into the distance at a much better pace. ?Onward and upward, was the call and we made our way to Murchison. We arrived ahead of the main group so took a detour to the closest sugar cane plantation. It seemed the perfect time for a team shot, and impromptu cane munching exercise. This drop was the biggest we had attempted, and in total we did approximately 800 or so pairs of shoes. Thabo and D2 skated a small stair gap along the main school building corridor, and had a pretty interesting line going over a bin. We also witnessed the biggest box fi ght I had ever seen, as the kids proceeded to beat each other senseless with the empty shoe cartons. This, coupled with the opportunity to share the art of sugar cane eating, made this particular drop a varied affair. We mounted up and began the 3 hour drive down to Port St Johns in our beloved Eastern Cape. The rawness and contrasts of the Transkei area make this section of the country well worth a visit. There has been a deterioration of some of the infrastructure over the years, but as long as you keep the driving within sunlight hours, you should be OK. Be prepared to scare yourself shitless over blind rises, as they generally contain a herd of cattle?

Drop Day 5: Eluxolweni Boys Home ? Port St Johns
We moved into our new accommodation at the Amapondo Backpackers, www.amapondo.co.za with our host and shoe drop facilitator, Anni. The setting of the establishment is pretty wild and to say the place has some folklore about it, would be an understatement. I would equate it to a Fight Club type scenario. You dont talk about Fight Club. Do yourself a favour and check it out for yourself. The greater community of Port St Johns is in some need of love, and our fi nal drop for the trip was in the hall of the Eluxolweni Boys Home. The day was very wet and made proceedings trying to say the least. Our friends from across the pond were dumbfounded every time a child wanted the toilet, as I had the opportunity to meet a host of interesting people on this trip and it turned into one of the best experiences Ive had since getting into skateboarding all those years ago.

they would either squat/stand under the nearest tree, or if really little, pee straight Element Toms Tour
One For One Under The African Sun (Copy Dave Allan) (Photos Clinton Theron)

Ive been accused of being a cynic on more than one occasion. It is the automatic response that all is not as it seems, or something along those lines. Im working on it? Moving swiftly along, during the beginning of October we were set to welcome a team of travelers from TOMS shoes, and our colleagues from Element USA. It was the beginning of the ElementTOMS board and shoe drop. Its been a year or more in the planning from our side and apparently 2 years and some change from the good people across the Atlantic. Here is the concept. For every pair of TOMS shoes you buy, the benevolent people at TOMS will give, gratis, a pair of shoes to a childperson in need. You read that correctly the first time. Buy one, give one away. Its called a One for One model, and TOMS seem to be pioneering a new way of doing things.

Lets set the scene and take a few steps back to arrive at the beginning. Blake Mycoskie is the founder and chief shoe giver heading up the TOMS organization in the U.S. To vaguely quote the TOMS website, In 2006 traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One.

Most children in developing countries grow up barefoot.Walking is often the primary mode of transportation. Children can walk for miles to get food, water, shelter and medical help. Wearing shoes literally enables them to walk distances that arent possible barefoot. Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation. Many times children cant attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they dont have shoes,
they dont go to school. If they dont receive an education, they dont have the opportunity to realize their potential. There is one simple solution...SHOES.So that takes care of the shoes portion of the story, what about the boards? Well, it turns out that Johnny Schillereff and Blake are mates and being mates, they chat shop over a couple cold ones. This gives rise to the Element/TOMS collaboration and the production of TOMS Element boards and Element TOMS shoes. Pick up what Im putting down?

Fast forward to the 10th of October and we have 33 335 pairs of TOMS shoes and 200 Element complete boards ready for delivery to the youth of South Africa. Cynic 0, World 1. We had driven up the week prior to organize any last minute chaos that is involved in bringing product into this country for benevolent purposes, and lets just say its not easy and it was chaotic. The drive, as always, was an exhilarating experience through the vehicle-friendly environs of the former Transkei. The fi nal body count for the drive up, ended with: 19 dead dogs, a family of 4 Hadedas, 1 cow, the near miss of another cow and a pedestrian who was sucked into the path of a truck! The sad state of our roads and the attitudes of drivers once again provide evidence to the fact that life is cheap in the good ?ol Republic we call home. This also makes it 2 out of 2 for witnessing the human body mangled by a moving vehicle on the same stretch of tar. Makes you think of Newtons third law. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, a truck moving in direction A hitting a person travelling in direction B, smashes the shit out of the person! We were destined to meet up with Bod in Ballito, our base for the next couple days, so 12 and 1/2 hours of driving brought us within sight of home. Feather foot, as Clint would become known on the trip, and I had been in 2 almost identical Volkswagen T5 Kombis for the drive up, thanks to TAVCOR in Port Elizabeth. We maintained sanity by conversing on our trusty two-way radios. It felt a bit like something from Smokey and the Bandit, and gave rise to the inevitable Roger, Tango type sign off after every chirp. The two-ways proved both useful and not so useful over the course of the next 2 weeks. Not so useful when the Feather foot had got lost and spat the dummy because he was antagonized by yours truly?.

We spent the next couple days jumping through hoops to get around some pretty impressive red tape for the shoes to be delivered. We passed the time skating with the boys and pushing (read hurting) ourselves. We hit up the bowl in Ballito for some fun and games. I reckon with a little effort from the local skaters, the old girl could be returned to her former glory. We also had the chance to skate the Richards Bay Park, which is defi nitely worth a visit. The locals were cool and eager to spill the beans on what had transpired with all the teams that had come to visit prior to our unannounced arrival. An added bonus was the opportunity to see the energy sapping awesomeness that is an aluminium smelter. I managed to buy a piece of the small bowl as a keepsake from the trip. Nice. As the 10th approached, and most of the paperwork and deliveries of boards and shoes was coming together, we started collecting all the people involved in making the trip possible. Our fi rst pick up was the Angel of Mercy herself, Ana Maria, who was responsible for all the logistics for TOMS. We played a fun game of Spot the guest at the airport and settled on the assumption that she would be 500kgs of Latino heat! We ended up looking supremely guilty upon her arrival, great fi rst impression. We later had to admit to our assumption over dinner; much to the amusement of Ana Maria, who it turns out is more of an Elf in stature than anything else. Body had the pleasure of enduring constant ragging during the rest of her stay, as we likened his hugging technique to that of an anorexic bear mauling a small child. Over the next day or so we assembled an awesome mix of people ready to do their bit for the benefi t of others. TOMS staff and volunteers made up the majority of the group, with Element Advocate, Amy Purdy, Pro Skateboarder and super sub Levi Brown, Ryan Kingman and Mark Falkenstein from Element global with Paul from FUEL TV bringing up the rear. More on team SA later.

Drop Day 1: Indigo Skate Camp ? Valley of 1000 Hills
The day started pretty early for all and would set the tone for the entirety of the trip. As you may have fi gured out by now this was more of a humanitarian exercise than a full on skate trip. The agenda was simple for the day: drive around 40 people to the Isithumba Village, home of the camp and Msomi household, and deliver boards and shoes to the greater community. Driving down the long winding stretch of tar to camp always brings a sense of anticipation and the bus was fi lled with nervous energy from all concerned. On the descent into the valley we were constantly greeted by smiling faces and enthusiastic waving. This scene was to be repeated for the majority of the trip and is always a reminder that the people in this country are amped to see and meet new people. Upon arrival, our intrepid group of volunteers and staff started unloading the boxes. It was pretty interesting to sit back and watch the looks of awe on all the faces as they walked down the path to the ramps. The setting is defi nitely surreal with hills framing the facility as if hand-placed by the Gods. Once the initial excitement had passed, the business of giving shoes out started. All the while the skaters had a jam session on both ramps. A highlight for me was standing on the decks of the large ramp with Kingman, talking shop, when we see a small Zulu boy of about 8 years old freshly kitted out in some new shoes, grab the nearest board and proceed to drop in and Rock Fakie the crap out of it! Indigo is the training ground for the future vert kings for sure. It was an amazing day, so much so, that Blake cancelled his fl ights to stay longer and not miss out on anything. The new garden was opened, and we were all treated to a bit of the Zulu culture with the kids putting on some traditional garb and dancing and singing the day out. The drive out the valley was a hair raising one as the mist rolled in to make things interesting along the winding tar. We headed back to HQ, which for the remainder of the trip was at Dallas house. A sprawling pad at the right address near the right places.

Drop Day 2: Umthombo Safe Space ? Durban
The morning of the drop had me in mixed spirits as to what we were trying to achieve, with questions of sustainability of the shoe and board drops, and how we all fi t into the social responsibility mindset that permeates society. In my humble and uneducated opinion about the cause and effect facing kids and people living on the streets of our urban sprawl, I do feel that anybody or organization trying to help displaced individuals rebuild their lives and communities need to be supported. A skateboard magazine might not be the fi rst place someone would look to fi nd a comment on our social evolution, but we as skateboarders are part of the urban sprawl environment because of what we do. We see fi rsthand, the outcasts from civil society. Skateboarding has always been the social outcasts choice of activity, so we are in a sense members of the street childrens alliance. This drop was by far the most emotionally charged of all the subsequent drops. I was not witness to all the events of the morning, as I was driving around looking for a couple of the skateboarding street children to ensure they got hooked up with fresh boards, but by all accounts the handing out of simple shoes and boards brought home the fact that what was going on was a step in the right direction. Pun intended. The kids insisted on giving us a surf demo, so the intrepid among us skated from the Point road area to New Pier, while the volunteers mounted their chariot and headed for the same destination. The beachfront looks as though a bomb has been detonated with the amount of construction and deconstruction going on. We skated down to North beach and were astounded to see earth moving equipment destroying the bowled area of the park closest to the old Indigo shop. We did fi nd out later that this was part of the Master plan for the beach front of Dirt bin, and a rebuild and extension plan was in place to improve the current facility. The international contingent moved their part of the trip into tourist mode and headed east for a stay at Hluhluwe and the best game viewing opportunity one can get. Mama Africa continues to deliver and surprise all comers. We had the next day off and decided to get some footage for the new, free, AV Skateboarding destined for imminent release. Thabo had made the trip out from JHB for the drop, sorry Siya we hope you understand? He was joined by Dlamini of the Dlamini clan, who was subsequently dubbed D2 for our foreign friends, who try as they might, couldnt pronounce D L A M I N I. We headed for the beach and proceeded to skate the pool and stair combo seen in the previous magazine. D2 is the silent assassin for sure. Not one to mouth off at any opportunity or tell you about a personal pool TF facility - Mullet, he just dropped the hammer and skated. Quite a contrast to Thabo, who is fueled by Duracell or something and never ever stops moving, talking, skating or getting up to mischief. Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt change any of it. The combination of these guys seemed to push the level constantly. The HUX/Revolution Park we skated can attest to this fact.

Drop Day 3: Saphinda Primary School ? Umlazi
We headed into town to meet up with Tim from Peace Players International, www.peaceplayers.com, who would be our guide for the journey out to Saphinda Primary in Umlazi. Peace Players are involved in spreading the word of sport and social upliftment via basketball, and have a skills exchange program on the go at various locations around SA and the world. We didnt have anywhere to skate at Saphinda, but the teachers were keen to get some skating going for the kids and this is an avenue for future trips. We all got stuck in distributing the bounty and I was reminded how small the world is and how funny assumptions can be, when a small boy asked me if I knew Chris Brown. Chris Brown the singer, I asked? To which the reply was, Yes, whats he like? It was hilarious, as he thought this pale face must be from America, and not from SA. Jamie from DOPE Industries, and I then tried our damndest to remember all the isiXhosa, because were from the Western and Eastern province, we were ever taught at school to convince him we were natives. Class: Molo Titshalakazi. Teacher: Molweni Bafundi. Anyhow, after these failed attempts at proving residence, we all gathered for a meal prepared by the teachers and sat down with the governing body of the school for lunch. Speeches were made, thanks was offered and received, and we left with a renewed sense hope for the future and our next shoe drop destination. We headed south to the Sacred Heart Childrens Home situated in rural Umtwalume, which is supported by the good people of Thanda, www.thanda.org, whose main focus is dealing with supporting children orphaned by AIDS. Dallas had been taking explorative trips further south a part of his latest venture; Indigo Youth Movement, and was instrumental in tying in all the NGOs for the trip. There are some road improvements from just after the Sipofu turn off and there is plenty of opportunity to bomb those hills in the area! The Sacred Heart facility overlooks an impressive valley and we did the shoe drop in the hall of the church, which echoed with the voices of all the children getting their personal fi tting. It might also be a good time to mention that each child is personally fi tted with the shoes to check the correct fi t and all concerned were on their hands and knees making it happen. Amy Purdy was an inspiration during the trip; she is a snowboarder, skateboarder, makeup artist, actress, and model and is also a double leg amputee. Check out www.amypurdy.com for more info. Dont ever let me hear you whine about life being hard and how tough you think youve got it. Cry me a river, Justin! A fl at ground skate ensued on the disused tennis court while the little nippers were being fi tted with shoes, much to the excitement of the children. Dallas got one of his prodigys out the crowd of smiling faces, and she proceeded to skate her heart out amongst the throng. After we had done pretty much the entire 500-odd strong recipient list, we headed back to HQ in Durban, while our colleagues headed for Hibberdene for the night.

Drop Day 4: Murchison Primary School ? Port Shepstone
This would be the last time we would leave from Dally wood, as from here on out we were making our way down the coast and heading to the fi nal destination for the drops; Port Shepstone. Just out from the Oribi Plaza, heading for Murchison, we came across an old guy pushing himself coffi n style along the road on a dilapidated skateboard. It was a perfect opportunity to keep the spirit of the trip alive, so we executed a perfectly synchronized U-turn, and pulled up next to him. We jumped out and explained our good intentions. He was ecstatic with the upgrade and made off into the distance at a much better pace. ?Onward and upward, was the call and we made our way to Murchison. We arrived ahead of the main group so took a detour to the closest sugar cane plantation. It seemed the perfect time for a team shot, and impromptu cane munching exercise. This drop was the biggest we had attempted, and in total we did approximately 800 or so pairs of shoes. Thabo and D2 skated a small stair gap along the main school building corridor, and had a pretty interesting line going over a bin. We also witnessed the biggest box fi ght I had ever seen, as the kids proceeded to beat each other senseless with the empty shoe cartons. This, coupled with the opportunity to share the art of sugar cane eating, made this particular drop a varied affair. We mounted up and began the 3 hour drive down to Port St Johns in our beloved Eastern Cape. The rawness and contrasts of the Transkei area make this section of the country well worth a visit. There has been a deterioration of some of the infrastructure over the years, but as long as you keep the driving within sunlight hours, you should be OK. Be prepared to scare yourself shitless over blind rises, as they generally contain a herd of cattle?

Drop Day 5: Eluxolweni Boys Home ? Port St Johns
We moved into our new accommodation at the Amapondo Backpackers, www.amapondo.co.za with our host and shoe drop facilitator, Anni. The setting of the establishment is pretty wild and to say the place has some folklore about it, would be an understatement. I would equate it to a Fight Club type scenario. You dont talk about Fight Club. Do yourself a favour and check it out for yourself. The greater community of Port St Johns is in some need of love, and our fi nal drop for the trip was in the hall of the Eluxolweni Boys Home. The day was very wet and made proceedings trying to say the least. Our friends from across the pond were dumbfounded every time a child wanted the toilet, as I had the opportunity to meet a host of interesting people on this trip and it turned into one of the best experiences Ive had since getting into skateboarding all those years ago.

they would either squat/stand under the nearest tree, or if really little, pee straight from the doorway of the hall to avoid getting wet. Priceless! We ended the day with a hearty lunch of boerewors and pap at Amapondo, perfectly complimented with a couple or 10 milk stouts to ease digestion. The pub area was buzzing and all in attendance did their utmost to strengthen international ties. Stories were traded about the highlights of the trip and how much it had affected the volunteers and crew of people involved. ww. I felt personally responsible to act as an ambassador and guide to unlocking peoples perceptions about our country, and what we have to offer. We said our goodbyes that evening and parted ways with the good people of TOMS. We would be continuing the drive to J-Bay with Levi and the rest of Element, but thats another story altogether. We would not have been able to pull any of this off without the help and dedication of a number of individuals. I would like to thank TOMS and Element for using their dollars and cents to make a difference in somebody elses backyard. A big shout out must go to the Element SA crew, in particular Dallas and Clinton for making the trip happen, Jamie OBrien from DOPE and AV for fi lming and Body from giving us the platform to present a snapshot of what happened. Element is proud to be driven by the good people at TAVCOR in Port Elizabeth, who supplied the Volkswagen vehicles used. Clint owes me R3600 for damaging another Kombi?. Go skate. Go get involved. Hamba kahle!from the doorway of the hall to avoid getting wet. Priceless! We ended the day with a hearty lunch of boerewors and pap at Amapondo, perfectly complimented with a couple or 10 milk stouts to ease digestion. The pub area was buzzing and all in attendance did their utmost to strengthen international ties. Stories were traded about the highlights of the trip and how much it had affected the volunteers and crew of people involved. ww. I felt personally responsible to act as an ambassador and guide to unlocking peoples perceptions about our country, and what we have to offer. We said our goodbyes that evening and parted ways with the good people of TOMS. We would be continuing the drive to J-Bay with Levi and the rest of Element, but thats another story altogether. We would not have been able to pull any of this off without the help and dedication of a number of individuals. I would like to thank TOMS and Element for using their dollars and cents to make a difference in somebody elses backyard. A big shout out must go to the Element SA crew, in particular Dallas and Clinton for making the trip happen, Jamie OBrien from DOPE and AV for fi lming and Body from giving us the platform to present a snapshot of what happened. Element is proud to be driven by the good people at TAVCOR in Port Elizabeth, who supplied the Volkswagen vehicles used. Clint owes me R3600 for damaging another Kombi?. Go skate. Go get involved. Hamba kahle!