Outward Bound’s A Night in a Refugee Camp Experience offers high school students a unique opportunity to live in a refugee’s shoes for 24 hours through an outdoor experiential program that simulates the challenges of arriving and living in a refugee camp.
The program is inspired by Heifer International’s “Night in a Global Village” experience and the United Nation’s Youth Assembly “Passages” program.
Using a hands-on approach, students break into four ‘family’ units of up to 12 students each, and together they live as refugees for 24 hours.
A facilitator for each group provides the necessary guidance as well as safety precautions; however, the program is designed for the students to take ownership and experience a range of outcomes.
These outcomes include: creating empathy and social responsibility; stepping out of their perceived comfort zone safely; challenging their outlook on themselves and others; working together as teams and relying on others and a unique, shared educational experience.
A framework for the program can include activities such as building shelters for the night in family groups, completing family jobs ranging from gardening, farming, forestry and water, visiting a ‘marketplace’ to barter for dinner and breakfast food and cooking meals with other family units.
A debrief and reflection period follows the activities, enabling students to make sense of their experience and relate it to situations in their home and school lives.
The program is facilitated by fully qualified Outward Bound instructors, who are from diverse cultural backgrounds and specialists in personal development and outdoor experiential education.
To discuss a tailored framework for an invaluable social justice experience that compliments your school’s curriculum, please contact Outward Bound Australia.
Testimonial:
"The Refugee Camp Experience simulation was an integral part of Radford College’s Year 9 unit on empathy and compassion, ‘Worn Soles’. The camp was a fantastic opportunity for students to simulate the experience of many refugees as they flee their homeland and seek safety and establish themselves in a different country. The experience was a very effective way for students to deepen their understanding of the plight of refugees and provided a valuable experiential learning experience, giving students a deeper understanding of refugees’ situations. Outward Bound worked closely with Radford College to tailor the camp to meet the aims of the ‘Worn Soles’ unit, ensuring that outcomes for students were maximised. The students found the Refugee Camp a deeply moving learning experience, and their reflections on the unit highlighted their insights gained through their participation.” - Dylan Mordike (Director of Cocurricular, Radford College, ACT)
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