Ever spent a day without shoes? Children in Africa do that every day, and a group of Maltese youngsters is spending the day barefooted today to raise awareness of the plight of many for whom shoes are a luxury.

Around half a dozen teenagers stood, without shoes, outside Tigne Point in Sliema, where they carried posters with slogans such as "I'm not wearing shoes because they can't" and "surrender your shoes". They also stopped people, who as a gesture of solidarity took their shoes off for a while.

One Day Without Shoes is an event in which people are invited to spend the day or even a few moments without shoes to realise what a difference they make. The official website of the international activity, onedaywithoutshoes.com, says that in Ethiopia, one million people suffer from a condition called "Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil".

The disease is preventable with basic foot hygiene - and wearing shoes.

16-year-old sixth form student Jamie Iain Genovese is the person responsible for the local version of the event.

He came across the idea when he discovered the company which organises the activity. Called Toms, the company gives children in Africa a pair of shoes for every pair bought. "I discovered that for some reason, these shoes are not available for purchase in Malta, so I thought this would be a good idea to raise awareness on this kind of poverty. And who knows, perhaps they can start selling their shoes to Malta," the young man said. "We're not raising any money, all we're trying to do is raise awareness" he told timesofmalta.com.