Martin Kumi- Founder & CEO, The Soul Project

The Soul Project, Inc., started with a personnal experience walking 10 miles to school barefooted.

Martin Kumi was 16 years old when he came to Stone Mountain from Ghana. When he got his first opportunity to return in

2005, the boy who grew up barefoot in Kumashi had 10 pairs of sneakers with him. As news of his arrival spread,

300 family members showed up. He left the country with only the shoes on his feet.  "People were mad at me for not 

bringing them shoes," he said.

On his return to DeKalb County, Kumi started the nonprofit Barnabas International, not called The Soul Project,

to collect lightly worn and new shoes to ship to Ghana.  The Soul Project has collected over 500,000 pairs of shoe and 

inspired the lives of many people around the world

Martin say, "Though I'm grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't change who I am. My feet are still

on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes".