The shoes I am wearing are a gift from a young Australian man, who is trying to make a normal life for himself and his fiancee. He is a plasterer and in working hard to make ends meet and has had to move in with his finacess parents to save up a deposit for a house.

His life is normal, now.

He arrived in Australia nine years ago at a time when the media was demonising Asylum Seekers. He was trying to escape being killed in Chechnya. It was through walking alongside him and seeing how society looked from a totally different perspective. It was through this experience that I was transformed, now I am proud to walk in these shoes. These shoes symbolise for me the experiences that helped me walk in the right direction, to the place that society would rather we did not go. To the place of the least. It is hidden, because, through discovering it, I no longer walk to the beat that society drums for me.

I love these shoes!

Peace,
Jon Owen
UNOH Team
Mt Druitt, SYDNEY