This year, all shoeboxes made online at Shoebox World will be sent to children in Lofa County, Liberia.
Where an estimated 30% of all the country's child soldiers came from.
Where more civil unrest has taken place than than any other part of Liberia.
Where the average cost of living is less than $1 per day.
A common toy for a boy would be a 'car' engineered using discarded old oil cans, pulled around on a string. For a girl, they might play 'house' with some small sticks and rocks, making a little fire to cook rice over - a miniature version of what they see their mother do each day.
Never will these children have received a wrapped gift full of toys and education supplies, like a shoebox. Nothing even close.
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• Ten years old
• Has one older brother, Daniel
• Loves going to school and enjoys the hot meal that she receives every day at school!
• Parents are subsistence farmers, with an average income of $15USD per month
• When she grows up she wants to be a teacher
Tamba 
• 11 years old
• Has one younger brother
• Attends the community school and is proud to share that he can spell his own name (something 60% of the population of Liberia cannot do)
• Loves to play football and is a member of the community’s junior team
• Often helps his parents on the farm - drawing water, brushing the fields and cutting down trees
• He wants to be a carpenter when he grows up.
Edward 
• 7 years old
• His parents have a rice farm but also a coffee and cocoa garden
• When Edward is not in school he draws water and pounds the rice for his mother
• He enjoys watching the men ride motorbikes through his community as they transport people. Someday he wants to own a bike of his own.
• When he grows older he wants to be a nurse.
Nessie
• Nessie is 5 years old
• She has 3 brothers and sisters, both of her parents are living
• She attends the K-2 class at her local school
• She can go with her mum to the rice farm, but she is too young to help.
• She loves to play house with her friends