YHKCC students go barefoot for child soldiers on “No Shoes Afternoon”
Wiggling toes, dusty feet; footloose and carefree! To many students in Hong Kong, 16th April was a school day as normal which they had to wear proper school uniform and black shoes, yet behind the seeming normalcy, something was different in the campus of YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College (YHKCC). You would find that hundreds of YHKCC students had no shoes on and walked into classrooms barefooted to raise the awareness of child soldiers.
In a campaign to raise the awareness about the exploitation of the children who are forced to be child soldiers, YHKCC students had their barefoot for the whole afternoon to experience the plight of the child soldiers. There is a large number of children in the world who are recruited in hostilities by armed forces. And this campaign aims to give the students a feel of what it might be like without shoes on hazardous grounds.
This was the first year the YHKCC has organised the campaign to support the UNICEF, that students were also invited to write heartfelt messages in cards to children who are vulnerable or being exploited in this way. And it certainly made an interesting sight for students – and even teachers and staff – to having enjoyed an afternoon treading about barefoot.
“No Shoes Afternoon was an eye-opening experience for us. It was a precious opportunity for us to appreciate what we have and it also reminded us not to take for granted what we have in our daily lives. Even if it wasn’t exactly like the conditions of child soldiers, it still showed us how fortunate we were,” said Colin Hong, a Form 5 student in the school shared his experience. The examples of different ground surface, such as gravel or real grass, allowed students to have a feel of what the child soldiers have to experience in their lives.
Mr. Dion Chen, Principal of YHKCC, said “The purpose of the No Shoes Afternoon is to bare our soles for the child soldiers. We believe that children are our future, they should grow up under the conditions that allow them to realize their full potential and enjoy their human rights. And they should be protected from any form of military recruitment by armed forces or groups involvement in armed conflict. The event was a success. It provided an exposure to our students this issue of social injustice, and hope they will treasure what they have now.”
