From October to December the merry band of Operation Christmas Child volunteers have been hard at work processing shoeboxes and loading them into containers.
Depending on schedules, teh containers are shipped between November and January. On arrival, after clearing customs, they are transported to villages, often in very remote and hard to reach places.
This year OCC shipped the most ever number of shoeboxes! It's very exciting and it's also a very big challenge. After all, how do you transport over 316,000 of anything?
Shoeboxes travel by boat, plane, car, yak, hores, motorbike, bullock-drawn cart - and OCC have even seen them carried on top of people's heads as they make the journey to waiting boys and girls.
Transport times vary according to weather, roughness of the road or track, remoteness of the village and mode of transport but, one thing is certain, when those shoeboxes arrive, it's Christmas for these children who have most likely never received a gift in their life!
This is where the 316,323 shoeboxes from Australia and New Zealand were distributed to;
- 5,162 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Vanuatu.
- 14,843 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Samoa.
- 42,982 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Fiji.
- 43,078 shoeboxes were shipped to children in PNG.
- 73,892 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Vietnam.
- 66,520 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Thailand.
- 69,846 shoeboxes were shipped to children in Cambodia.
Click on the links to see the stories and images from each country.
