Questions to consider and decide in planning

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1 REFUGEE CAMPS Questions to consider and decide in planning Dates: We suggest two nights so that the students can be challenged and still enjoy themselves, but one afternoon/night/morning will work if that is all the time you have. Venue: The far end of the oval (as far away from toilets and water as possible) is a good place, but there is such a variety in schools that you have somewhere far better in mind. Guest Speakers: Try to find a number of guest speakers to come and share their stories refugees, asylum seekers, people who work with refugees, aid workers who have been to camps overseas. What teachers / other adults will be involved? Depending on the age of the children, you may want to invite a number of teachers and or parents to be involved. Leaders should read as many stories / articles on refugees, and perhaps some autobiographies / biographies on the lives of refugees to really teach the students well. What is the name for your refugee camp? All refugee camps have a name. Depending on the focus. Kakuma is the camp that ALWS support in Kenya refugees from many different nations, including many Southern Sudanese and Somalis end up there to avoid war and persecution in their own countries. In Nepal, names of Bhutanese refugee camps ALWS have supported include: Beldangi, Goldhap, Saniscahre, Timai Refugee Camps. Will shelter for the night be tents or wood/tarp/very basic shelters? If tents, you will need to organise numbers (male and female tents) and make sure that you have enough. If the more basic shelters, you will need to have a pile of tarps, some wood, wire or string etc. They still have to be safe. (Boys like being able to create shelters with whatever you can find.) You could also have cardboard boxes, hay or straw for heating. If you have younger students, you will probably need tents. Do you want them to have a thin blanket or a light sleeping bag? They should be a little uncomfortable, but not freeze. I suggest students come in tracksuit (or similar) and sleep in that refugees don t change clothes for weeks on end. I would have them bring a thin blanket no pillow. They could use anything they can find for a pillow if they want one. Are you able to have a fire at the school? What are the risk assessments that will need to be done? Will the students have to go and get their own firewood (firewood could be placed around the oval beforehand so the students have to work for it)? Will they have to attempt to start a fire with no matches? (You could always have wood and matches as a backup.) Some schools do not allow a fire, so you could use a bar-b-que for cooking and use a lamp to sit around at night. Need a tent or shelter for the UNHCR tent. This is a base for the leaders so that the camp is authentic. I suggest a UNHCR sign at the front. Throughout the camp, the students will gain a good understanding of the role of the UNHCH to the millions of displaced people around the world.

2 Toilets: As part of the refugee camp situation, you need to teach the students the importance of safe toileting to reduce illness and disease. Refugees and returnee refugees need to learn about the importance of long drop loos. If it is at all possible, you should let the students have a go at digging a loo (even if they don t use it). In African villages (and in refugee camps) the long-drop loos are generally only used for poos. For a wee, a person goes to the wash area (usually they put some rocks down, and they sometimes have a reed privacy barrier. This is also where they have a wash each morning and sometimes a wash at night.) There is no toilet paper in African villages and refugee camps, but I am sure you can just explain that one! If you had the students dig a loo, you could really teach about the importance of hygiene, and toileting in the same place to help stop the spread of diseases. (See water and sanitation sheets) Water how far away will the students have to go to get water? Have a variety of buckets, water containers etc. for them to carry. It is hard. Teach about the fact that the women (and some children) do this every day for many hours. Stress about the need for clean water too much water that is collected is not clean, but it is used anyway because that is all there is. You might want to have one small drink bottle for each person, but they need to fill it up at the water source a distance away (or as a group decide how to get the water to the refugee camp area. (See water and sanitation sheets.) Food What food is going to be available? Refugee camp food is very basic, and the refugees need it cook it. If the students are given ration cards, they could have a meal. If they are put into work groups, they could share the cooking. Cooking would be done over a fire (need cooking pots etc), and would be a porridge type meal if your focus is Africa, or a rice meal if in Asia. Generally our Australian kids don t like it too much, so the lesson needs to be about hunger and reality, and the need to eat if that is what is available. Serve the same for breakfast again the next morning you get used to it if you are hungry! Refugees eat with their hands. Do you want this, or would you rather a spoon? Do you want your youth to bring a spoon and bowl? Non-Food Items Refugees are given non-food items when they arrive at a refugee camp. This could include water containers, soap, cooking pots, blankets etc. (anything they might need for the night). You will need to get a pile of non-food items together so that they can be given to the refugees on arrival. The refugees will need to share their non-food items in order to survive the night. If you only allow the students to have the non-food items they are given (as if they were a real refugee turning up to a camp with nothing), then you need to make sure you have enough for everybody. Lights - For safety, you may want a couple of leaders to have torches (or even one per tent/ shelter), but try to limit light away from the fire. Electronic Equipment There should be no access to phones, ipods or any other electronic equipment there is certainly none of that in a real camp! Do you want the students to gain sponsors for doing the campout weekend? If so, print out the sponsorship forms.

3 A SUGGESTED PROGRAM FOR A TWO DAY SCHOOL REFUGEE CAMP Day 1 Afternoon Students arrive at camp with a small backpack carrying all that they own (you might have them come straight after school, or they could go home and come back to school at around 5pm). Students go to the UNHCR tent, and sign in. Give to them a piece of paper that explains the situation from which they have fled (including their county), their family circumstances etc. They are to keep this with them for discussion later. They are fingerprinted, and added to the list of refugees arriving at the camp that day. They receive some non-food items and a ration card, and told to wait on the ground until everyone arrives. Welcome the refugees to your camp. Maybe read an extract from a book about the life of a refugee. Give instructions about what will happen for next hour or so: Shelters for the night need to be built A long drop loo needs to be dug? Water needs to be collected (refugees need to decide how much they will need and make sure they are prepared, otherwise they will have to go again) Firewood needs to be gathered and a fire started Food needs to be cooked, eaten and pans washed up. If there is any free time, encourage youth to find things to amuse themselves from what they can find e.g. Make a soccer ball using bark and leaves in a sock Build towers using sticks or anything they can find Play Pictionary by drawing in the dirt. 7:00pm Sit the group down (around the fire) and talk about what they do know about refugees, and what challenges them about refugees. A leader needs to take charge of the discussion, and talk about some refugee information (see sheets attached for example). 7:30 8:30pm Guest speaker/s, and around the fire, shares what it is like at a refugee camp. Why people flee their country, how they arrive, what happens when they get to a camp, what the camps are like. 8:30pm devotion followed by bed Youth think about the things they would miss most if they had to leave their homes, families and life. How would they survive in desperate circumstances? Where is God when refugees suffer so much? How do people keep faith in such difficult times? Why does God allow war to happen so people have to flee? Stress: God never leaves people, but carries them through to the other side Listen to stories of great faith.

4 Day 2 7am Wake up, collect water, breakfast / clean up Make lunch for the day (one sandwich with vegemite or similar) Worship service around the fire 8:30am Students go to school with a set of rules: They are only allowed use technology if it is part of a class requirement (e.g. computer lesson) They are to sit on the floor (work out with teachers beforehand) They are only allowed to drink out of the water bottle that they have filled at the camp that morning They can only eat the sandwich that they made earlier at the refugee camp They stay in the same clothes they were in the day before They have to teach other students about their life as a refugee. 3:30pm Refugees meet again on the oval. Group discussion how was their day? How did it feel to be different? Were they treated differently? Were they hungry? They need to do their jobs collecting firewood, water, 4:30pm Debriefing. Reflection time. Journaling. 5:00pm Guest speaker/s Refugees to share their story. 6:00pm Making dinner, eating, clean up Discuss eating the same (not very exciting) meal over and over. What is it like? 7:00pm Discussion: Action what do the students want to do with their knowledge? How will their experience change the way they treat people? Treat refugees? They way they respond to media reports that treat refugees as criminals? What action would they like to take to help refugees? What action would they like to take to raise money for refugees? 8:00pm Free time around the fire before bed. Day 3 7am Wake up, collect water, breakfast / clean up If still a school day, make lunch (one sandwich with vegemite or similar) Worship service 8:30am Students go to school with a set of rules (OR if a Saturday, they go home): You need to meet with students before they go home to debrief if they have been as school.

5 BEFOREHAND: Gain support from school administration, other teachers and parents. Hand out permission forms and have parents sign their consent for the campout. Try to encourage all teachers, parents and other helpers have read about refugees, and have some understanding of refugee issues. Make sure you have completed all necessary risk assessment documentation. Speak to students so they know some of what to expect, but let them know that it will be a time of learning, thinking, growing, challenging of ideas, and a lot of fun! Buy food (!!) and gather resources. Have a good idea of the program, but make sure you are flexible. Prepare the worship, devotion and reflection times. RESOURCES NEEDED: Materials Food Individual Students Need Saucepans Stirring spoons Matches Serving Spoon Buckets Water containers Tarp Tents/or tarps and wood Battery lights/torches Ink for fingerprinting Ration cards Scenario cards Porridge OR Rice Bread and vegemite for sandwiches for school Tent (shared) or tarp Warm, casual clothes Light blanket Toothpaste Toothbrush Hairbrush