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When Bongani Luvalo and Jabulane Hope Thabethe set out to walk 645 miles from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Durban, they didn't plan to spend two days walking without shoes.
"I wanted to walk for two days without shoes then that became more," says Thabethe, who organized the Walk for Change.
"When children don't have shoes, it destroys their self-confidence," he tells Varsity News.
"I was motivated by my own personal experience of growing up without a dad, and it shows them the importance of being present in their children's lives," adds Luvalo, who started the Cool Dads Foundation in 2012.
He and Thabethe walked to raise money for school shoes for children in impoverished communities, as well as to promote present fatherhood.
"We slept for free in some places and were thankful for the coffee, rusks, and meals and the warm water," says Luvalo, who completed the walk with Thabethe for the sixth time.
They walked an average of 10 hours a day over the two weeks they were in South Africa, reports the Telegraph.
"It's been a beautiful journey," Luvalo says.
"We felt encouraged by people who stopped to talk to us or