Two men, Robert Epstone and Beat Schmid de Gruneck, started walking barefoot in Indonesia in 2010 to raise awareness and money for poor and homeless children. They have continued annual barefoot walks within Indonesia and Australia to highlight the struggles of 250,000 street children in Indonesia who lack access to education, health care, and shelter. Their organization, SOLE MEN, aims to raise $1 million to fund projects assisting street children and to distribute health education materials.

1. Text
Walking for Children in Indonesia
District 3400

2. In 2010 Bali residents, Rotary Club of Bali,
Seminyak “Rotarian of the Year” Robert
Epstone (UK) and Beat Schmid de Gruneck
(Swiss) Bali residents and members of SGI-
Bali www.sgi-bali.org, part of a Buddhist
Association for Peace, Culture and
Education, are the Indonesia SOLE MEN.
They have abandoned shoes for a year in
solidarity with the poor and homeless
children to raise money and awareness for
SOLE MEN ‘Health, Education and Safety for Children in
How it started… Indonesia.
“we have gone barefoot to highlight the
poverty and suffering of the poorest
children in Indonesia.” - Robert and
Beat
“But we decided it wasn’t enough, the
problem is huge, so we decided to do a

3. SOLE MEN 2011 Barefoot Walks
June 500 km Bali
August 500 km Java
October 2000 km Australia

4. Who we are walking for…..
“- the most vulnerable children in need in our
communities
- children who live in poverty
- children without access to education, medicine
and shelter
Our barefoot walks are for them and we hope
others will take up the idea to raise money for
these children”
- Robert and Beat

5. Street kids….
2007 survey by Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs
12 Cities in Java estimated to have a total of over 250,000
street kids
Jakarta estimated to have over 30,000 street kids

6. Children at risk
 Children of families living on the streets
 From deceased parents
 Runaways from abusive families
 From parents who have moved away or abandoned their
children

7. Street kids at risk
Street kids are at risk from:
 Drugs
 Prostitution
 Lack of sanitation
 Criminal gangs
 HIV/AIDS
 Mental health problems
 Malnourishment

8. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old

9. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old
“I have been working on the street since I was 6 years old I
sniff glue with my friends. It keeps the hunger away”

10. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old
“I have been working on the street since I was 6 years old I
sniff glue with my friends. It keeps the hunger away”
Boy, 14 years old

11. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old
“I have been working on the street since I was 6 years old I
sniff glue with my friends. It keeps the hunger away”
Boy, 14 years old

12. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old
“I have been working on the street since I was 6 years old I
sniff glue with my friends. It keeps the hunger away”
Boy, 14 years old
“How can I go to school! I am too busy begging to get
food. How can I get the money to buy uniform, books and
pay the teacher? Can you help me?”

13. “………….” shoeshine customer, he paid me 3,000
“I had sex with my
rupiah. I found out later how wrong it was. I spent the
money on Bakso”
Boy, 13 years old
“I have been working on the street since I was 6 years old I
sniff glue with my friends. It keeps the hunger away”
Boy, 14 years old
“How can I go to school! I am too busy begging to get
food. How can I get the money to buy uniform, books and
pay the teacher? Can you help me?”
Girl, 12 years old

14. Who is helping them?

15. Who is helping them?
 Government agencies
 Homeless shelters
 Orphanages
 Outreach education programs
 Outreach health programs
All these agencies and projects are critically underfunded
and cannot increase their capacity sufficiently to meet the
scale of the problem

16. SOLE MEN
 Raise $1,000,000 through a series of barefoot walks
 Form a grant giving trust to support projects helping street
kids
 Provide healthcare literature for schools, orphanages and
outreach health and education projects

17. SOLE MEN
 Raise $1,000,000 through a series of barefoot walks
 Form a grant giving trust to support projects helping street
kids
 Provide healthcare literature for schools, orphanages and
outreach health and education projects
100% of money donated will be used for projects.

18. SOLE MEN
 Raise $1,000,000 through a series of barefoot walks
 Form a grant giving trust to support projects helping street
kids
 Provide healthcare literature for schools, orphanages and
outreach health and education projects
100% of money donated will be used for projects.
All SOLE MEN events and administration will be funded by
sponsorship.

19. How you can help……
 Fundraise… Use your contacts!
 If a SOLE MEN Walk is happening in your area , help with logistics and
fundraising and spread the word in your community
 Start your own barefoot walk and get sponsorship
 Go barefoot for a day, a week, a month, or a year! Get sponsored!
 Have a SOLE MEN fundraising event with your friends or at your
business…. Every little counts!
 Sponsor a Sole Men event
 Spread the word through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook
……are you a SOLE MAN?

20. “How can I go to school! I am too busy begging
to get food. How can I get the money to buy
uniform, books and pay the teacher? Can you
help me?”
Girl, 12 years old
……are you a SOLE MAN?