A German shoemaker, George Wessels flew from Germany to Johannesburg, to hand over a pair of specially made size 57 shoes to
Charlie Nyoni ‘Big Charlie’ from Zimbabwe.
The official handing over took place on 31 January at the Southern Sun Montecasino, Fourways.
Nyoni expressed his gratitude “I feel very very happy. In my life I didn’t have shoes until I was 20 years old, and I had to work without shoes. I am very grateful because there are no sizes in Zimbabwe, in shoes and in clothes for me.’’
Wessels has made shoes for Nyoni before, but has never actually met or handed over to him in person.
The day was extra special as it also marked the first meeting of Nyoni and Wessels.
Nyoni was handed his fifth pair of shoes made by Wessels.
Melanie Assauer is one of the people who made this day possible, along with one of Nyoni’s friends, as they had contacted Wessels many years ago.
According to Assauer, “it is very hard to actually say how tall Big Charlie is, as he can’t stand straight but we can say he is around 2,25m to 2,30m. This is also Charlie’s first travel outside of his country, everyone involved put a lot of effort into today.”
Wessels expressed his reasons for doing this gesture, “I do this because it is my mission in life, for 35 years my dad made these kind of shoes.
My father made the shoes for the giant of Amsterdam.The biggest shoes I have ever made are size 69 and it is in the Guinness World Book
of Records,” said Wessels
