1.2 You have to flee!
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This section of the game aims to paint a realistic portrait of the type of situation many refugees face when they are forced to flee.
Goal: To enable pupils to get in touch with the feelings, emotional cross-roads and difficult decisions that a refugee can be forced to endure.
Split the class into pairs. Ask each pair to list five strong feelings they think they would feel if faced with the same situation as the character in the game, and then discuss how well they believe they would cope with these feelings.
Goal: To increase understanding of what it entails to have to escape from one’s homeland.
Allow students to conduct their own research, using the internet, literature or by interviewing a local resident with a refugee background, to find out what they managed to take with them when they fled and what determined their decisions. You could also split up the class into smaller groups and ask them to research what refugees fleeing different country situations might take with them.
Goal: To provoke reflection on what it would feel like to abandon one’s country to escape war and persecution.
Assign students the task of listing ten items they would most like to take with them if they had to flee. This should be done on their own and under a time-constraint. Students will then present their list to the rest of the class. It will then be their task to form small groups and, under a strict time-limit, go through the items leaving only four for each person.
Goal: To place students in the mind-set of a refugee who, stalked by fear, must race against time in order to escape.