By TRECIA TAN SHU HUI
SUBANG JAYA: Five Taylor's University Diploma in Education students replaced their normal footwear with fragile hotel slippers for a week to bring awareness to underprivileged children
who have no access to shoes.
“The ‘My Paper Shoes’ social action project is a way for us to feel what it’s like to not own
proper shoes and to start a conversation about how we often take our shoes for granted,” said
Violacea Low Yin Hui, 20.
Low said she and her friends wanted to explore the idea of abundance versus scarcity, and a
quick survey among them showed that they had an average of 12 pairs of shoes per person.
“It was really overwhelming after I laid out all of my shoes on the floor, thinking about how
ridiculous it is that I only have two feet, but 27 pairs of shoes,” she said.
Low said she almost broke her shoes on the first day of wearing them to campus as they were
made out of thin fabric.
“My shoes were in such bad shape that you could see my toes and I had to fix them in the
student council room using cardboards and tapes.
“I actually plan out my day just so I can take the least amount of steps and avoid wet floors, and it makes me think of the kids on the other side of the world with no shoes,” she said.
Aside from the difficulty of walking in paper shoes, the students also had to endure curious
stares from members of the public.
Ho Ji Bee, 20, said, “I went to Sunway Pyramid and it was nerve-racking because people were
staring at me as if I had a mental problem.”
“They shot judgmental looks at me and I was feeling self-conscious at first, but I reminded
myself that I’m doing this for a cause and I shouldn’t be afraid,” she said.
Ho, Low, and three other friends – Jessica Yew Chin Wei, 20, Divya Devi Paramasewa, 20, and
Lo Wei Hui, 20 – shared their journey of self-reflection on Facebook as part of their Education
and Society class, and they had inspired their friends.
Foundation in Natural and Built Environments student Chin Khang Wei, 19, said he wanted to
participate in their project but he did not own a pair of hotel slippers.
“I find their project very meaningful because we often take things for granted and forget that we are more fortunate than other people in this world,” he said.
“They shot judgmental looks at me and I was feeling self-conscious at first, but I reminded
myself that I’m doing this for a cause and I shouldn’t be afraid,” she said.
Ho, Low, and three other friends – Jessica Yew Chin Wei, 20, Divya Devi Paramasewa, 20, and
Lo Wei Hui, 20 – shared their journey of self-reflection on Facebook as part of their Education
and Society class, and they had inspired their friends.
Foundation in Natural and Built Environments student Chin Khang Wei, 19, said he wanted to
participate in their project but he did not own a pair of hotel slippers.
“I find their project very meaningful because we often take things for granted and forget that we are more fortunate than other people in this world,” he said.
who have no access to shoes.
“The ‘My Paper Shoes’ social action project is a way for us to feel what it’s like to not own
proper shoes and to start a conversation about how we often take our shoes for granted,” said
Violacea Low Yin Hui, 20.
Low said she and her friends wanted to explore the idea of abundance versus scarcity, and a
quick survey among them showed that they had an average of 12 pairs of shoes per person.
“It was really overwhelming after I laid out all of my shoes on the floor, thinking about how
ridiculous it is that I only have two feet, but 27 pairs of shoes,” she said.
Low said she almost broke her shoes on the first day of wearing them to campus as they were
made out of thin fabric.
“My shoes were in such bad shape that you could see my toes and I had to fix them in the
student council room using cardboards and tapes.
“I actually plan out my day just so I can take the least amount of steps and avoid wet floors, and it makes me think of the kids on the other side of the world with no shoes,” she said.
Aside from the difficulty of walking in paper shoes, the students also had to endure curious
stares from members of the public.
Ho Ji Bee, 20, said, “I went to Sunway Pyramid and it was nerve-racking because people were
staring at me as if I had a mental problem.”
“They shot judgmental looks at me and I was feeling self-conscious at first, but I reminded
myself that I’m doing this for a cause and I shouldn’t be afraid,” she said.
Ho, Low, and three other friends – Jessica Yew Chin Wei, 20, Divya Devi Paramasewa, 20, and
Lo Wei Hui, 20 – shared their journey of self-reflection on Facebook as part of their Education
and Society class, and they had inspired their friends.
Foundation in Natural and Built Environments student Chin Khang Wei, 19, said he wanted to
participate in their project but he did not own a pair of hotel slippers.
“I find their project very meaningful because we often take things for granted and forget that we are more fortunate than other people in this world,” he said.
“They shot judgmental looks at me and I was feeling self-conscious at first, but I reminded
myself that I’m doing this for a cause and I shouldn’t be afraid,” she said.
Ho, Low, and three other friends – Jessica Yew Chin Wei, 20, Divya Devi Paramasewa, 20, and
Lo Wei Hui, 20 – shared their journey of self-reflection on Facebook as part of their Education
and Society class, and they had inspired their friends.
Foundation in Natural and Built Environments student Chin Khang Wei, 19, said he wanted to
participate in their project but he did not own a pair of hotel slippers.
“I find their project very meaningful because we often take things for granted and forget that we are more fortunate than other people in this world,” he said.