Walk a Mile in My Shoes (by Andi)

Today we were lucky enough to take part in a project that was part of the Empathy Museum - designed to help people think about what it's like to literally walk in someone else's shoes.

A Mile in My Shoes project looks like a big shoe-box.

Inside the shoebox the lovely volunteer helped the boys choose shoes.

Finn was given these shoes that belonged to a Native American teenager

Patch was given these red shoes that belonged to an 11 year old girl.

Isaac got these bright yellow crocs belonging to a 11 year old boy.

Then each of the boys got given headphones and an audio player.  Each audio player had a life-story being told by the previous owner of the shoes. 

Then the boys got to walk around Downtown Denver listening to the stories, while literally wearing that person's shoes.

The boys then all listened to a second story - one of which was the inspiring story of a triathlete who wore this leg (and these shoes).

At the end the boys all got to write about their experience on a note card...

...and stick it on this wall where all the other participants reflections on the experience were also posted.  

 This was an amazing experience and instigated lots of great discussions.  How are our lives different/the same as these people?  If the person whose story you had listened to was a classmate, how could you try and help them? If we could give President Trump 1 pair of shoes to walk in whose shoes would they be?  A refugee father?  A victim of gun violence or their family members?  A child being held in an immigration centre?

We also loved these quotes that lined the shoebox walls.

If you'd like to find out more about this project you can follow this link: http://www.empathymuseum.com/