Refugee Experience

On 1 August, the Year 6 students were taken into two buses and split up into groups to learn about the sad journey refugees went through. At 10:00am we met two lovely refugee tour guides who told us their experience as
refugees. They then gave us a lanyard which gave us a new name, age, background and experiences of being a
refugee.

We were then taken to the next refugee tour guides who told us their experience of being a refugee and how
hard it was running nonstop, searching for safety. They also told us that about 21.3% of Australia’s population are refugees and then took us out to experience it ourselves by reenacting it to us. They showed us how some of the refugee’s bags were stolen and taken by cruel guides and that some families were separated from each other.

They also showed us the terrible conditions that all refugees have to live with in the camps such as dirty water,
small homes, tents as classrooms, and small toilets with time limits. We were then near our end of our journey
and had to go to a little classroom to talk about all the tragic things the refugees went through.

Going to the refugee camp didn’t just let us learn the tragic things they go through but it also opened our eyes
to the real world and really showed us what some people are going through because we are living a comfortable
life that many people don’t get to have. Many of us students want to make a difference in the future by helping or
donating to them.

Written by Kumi

In Geography, Year 6 has been learning all about the struggles and adventures as a refugee. To support our learning, on 1 August, Year 6 went to a simulated refugee camp (Refugee Camp in Your Neighbourhood) held in the
grounds of Auburn Centre for Community.

This program is about raising awareness of refugees by doing a role play tour around the place while we students
had to pretend to be in the shoes of a refugee. When we arrived, we were greeted by our tour guides and they
handed us each a card with our new “identity”. This card had an age, country and background story of which we
had to pretend to be these people for the rest of the day. All of our tour guides were either refugees or asylum
seekers and told us about their own story about how they escaped their own country, with each story being
unique in its own way. One thing they all had in common was that they had to escape their own country for safety.
Throughout the day, there were many scenarios that we were put in, such as; “gate keepers” yelling at us in different languages and taking away our precious items, fake bullet sounds to simulate a destructive war, pretend boat
journeys to help us “escape”, and fake detention centres that we were able to explore.

Even with these scenarios, the tour guides were very nice and walked us through what actual refugees would be
doing in their everyday life. We definitely learned a lot of information about refugees, for example, the jobs that
they do, the little they get to eat in refugee camps, how long they stay there for, and much more!

Overall, this excursion was very realistic and helped us to understand about refugees on another level. Not only
did it create an image in our brains about what refugees go through, but it also bombarded us with a lot of information that we didn’t know. I am sure I am speaking for everyone when I say that we have gained a new respect
for all the refugees in the world.

Written by Caitlyn