Footprints of kindness

Have a good pair of shoes that your child quickly outgrew and want someone deserving to have it?

Fajar Secondary School’s Shoes Donation Drive programme was formed with an aim to provide the less fortunate with shoes. The programme is a collaborative effort between the school and Soles4Souls, a global organisation that contributes donated shoes to third world countries for both short-term relief and long-term solutions.

This year, the programme embarked on a 2-in-1 project. The first part was the collection of shoes through a shoes donation drive. The second part was to use the collected shoes to create a Singapore Record of “The Largest Word Formation Made with Shoes”. The students managed to collect and use 1508 pairs of shoes to form the phrase “WALK THE TALK.”

The programme has helped to create many learning platforms and opportunities for the students. They learned to be more compassionate and empathetic towards the less fortunate and how to help people understand about shoe donation. That aside, they also forge friendships and learned the importance of teamwork as they fortified the boxes of shoes for shipment.
“Students enjoyed themselves because they acquired life skills in an authentic activity and experienced the joy of giving. They were amazed at the formation of “WALK THE TALK.” It was a beautiful piece of art!” exclaimed Miss Tan Sok Eng, teacher-in-charge of The Shoes Donation Drive.

Secondary 4 student, Shawn Teo, felt a sense of achievement knowing that all the back-breaking work, packing and counting was worth it when the shoes are being donated to the less fortunate.

“The Shoes Donation Drive has allowed me to do what I love the most which is helping the needy,” said Shawn. “I want to do more to help as many people as I possibly can.”

Another Secondary 4 student, Daniel Teo learned about gratitude, hone his leadership and teamwork skills to problem-solve in areas like packing and transportation of shoes for shipping.

“If there’s no teamwork and compassion in all of us, nothing would have happened,” said Daniel.

He added, “What touched me the most was to see everyone’s smile and joy when we completed the project. We have collaborated successfully and done our best to care for those in need. We had so much joy throughout this journey!”

“The experience has taught them to be empathetic and think about the needs of others, including those beyond their normal daily experience such as those in third world countries. They also learned to be resourceful, resilient and think out of the box for solutions,” explained Miss Tan.

Parents also supported the programme by donating shoes and were pleased on how the programme has taught their children to make a positive difference in the lives of others.