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Building “Desperate Journeys”

Woman in scarf DJ

“Desperate Journeys“, Empathy Action’s new live interactive experience will be launching early next year to explore the refugee crisis with schools, businesses and groups.

Empathy Action are now actively looking for cast, backstage crew and event support to help build empathy with the global displaced and develop solutions and support for the refugee crisis.

The team have been trialling the set build at Tonbridge School courtesy of the Community Action Department of the school during their mid term break.

IMG_7004IMG_7008IMG_7081IMG_E7020IMG_7126IMG_7127IMG_7128IMG_7005 The experience is delivered within a maze-like set which can be assembled in a large hall or even outside during the summer. It will run for around 90 minutes as part of a 2-3 hour package delivered by the Empathy Action team, including briefing and a reflective feedback and discussion session. The experience is designed for up to 30 participants at a time, who will be guided through it by our cast members.

The challenging new piece is firmly based in facts, first hand accounts and case studies of this global issue to bring home to participants the human stories behind the headlines.

The launch is scheduled for 22-27th January at Tonbridge Baptist Church.

Empathy Action is now actively looking for more volunteering help to deliver this experience. The plan, to develop a pool of performers and crew, to rehearse through the autumn ahead of our launch week.

We need adults of any age who are comfortable improvising around a core script, interacting with the participants, and delivering powerful personal stories.”

If you are interested in helping please get in touch. Two local workshops will be running for all those interested.

  • Thursday 2 November 10 am -1 pm (Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells)
  • Friday 10 November 7 pm -10 pm (Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells)

If this strikes a chord with you please get in touch to hear more or to sign up for the workshops. Updates on the project will also be posted on Empathy Action’s Facebook page.IMG_7044IMG_7053IMG_E6998IMG_E7030

Filed Under: Blog, News, Uncategorized Tagged With: CSR, Desperate Journeys, Displaced, Empathy, empathy action, Empathy Actions, Empathy Deficit, Empathy with Refugees, Global Citizenship, Global Refugee Crisis, IDPs, Kinaesthetic Learning, Learning, Pickwell Foundation, Refugee, Refugee simulation, Refugees, school action, Schools, simulation, simulations, Syria Refugees, Teaching Empathy, Tonbridge, Tonbridge Baptist Church, Tonbridge School, Tonbridge School Community Action, volunteering

“feeling, even if only through a simulation, eclipses all the telling in the world”

Kat Vrolijk Y9

Do simulations actually make a difference?

A question that we are frequently asked. The reality is there is no uniform response to each event. The feelings people who take part feel are unique. So to is their response.

Some leave with a deep sense of gratitude for what they have and a renewed appreciation of others living in desperation. Others, a sense that they have taken part in another useful activity. Others still pledge to do more. A few, however, actually go on to be inspired to do more.

We asked Kat Vrolijk to describe her journey ‘from simulation’ to ‘beyond simulation’. The following is what she shared:

In June 2014, when I took part in my first “Poverty Trap” simulation, little did I know what that first experience would spur me on to do. Although it took me some time to reflect on what had happened during the simulation and develop my current viewpoint, I remember that at the time I was deeply struck by the guest speaker that day: Kim Polman. Three years on, I can still remember how she inspired me and reminded me a lot of my mother. That experience was in a way the key which helped me understand why my mother founded her company and strives to make the gold mining sector more ethical and sustainable. For years she had been teaching me about compassion and kindness, and how I should do my best to help those that have not had the same opportunities as me, yet I never really understood it; the reality that only 36% of girls in rural Morocco go to school, or of the tens of thousands of children who work in mines around the world seemed so distant. Empathy Action’s simulation changed all of that for me: feeling, even if only through a simulation, eclipses all the telling in the world.  

This experience is a form of visceral learning, where you are, for a brief moment, placed in the shoes of someone who has had a very different life. Although I had theoretically been learning about the underprivileged parts of the earth’s population for many years in Geography lessons and thanks to my mother’s advice, it was the emotional connection formed through the simulation which turned my theoretical knowledge of these issues into real understanding, and eventually empathy. It is interesting for me to reflect on how that simulation changed me, now that I am at university, learning about the emotional disconnect that many of us have with issues around the world which do not affect us directly. After the initial simulation, I discussed the experience with my mother, with whom I decided to bring the experience to my old school in Switzerland. This was the first time, of many, in which I played a cast role in the simulation, giving me a new glimpse into the dynamic and effects of the “Poverty Trap”. Empathising with these issues is one thing, but the experience also pushed me to get very involved in many fundraising activities, for both local and international causes. In July 2016, I was a part of a team of ten students and two teachers who travelled to Mumbai in India, and this experience too influenced me in ways I did not originally expect. Amongst other things, visiting the slum of Dharavi, showed me how much hope and joy there is in places that as privileged westerners we may look down upon, but also that there is so much left to be done in terms of infrastructure, sanitation and access to education. It also strengthened my desire to study architecture, in order to someday hopefully contributing to ethical and sustainable solutions to urban design problems.

Earlier this summer, I spent two weeks volunteering for Empathy Action, and experienced (in a small amount of time), a few of the ups and downs that small independent charities face: a strong sense of community, wondering how to measure impact, eyes shining with a common goal, the anger and sadness evoked from injustices… I was also delighted to have lunch with Kim Polman, three years later, to tell her how she had contributed to my complete worldview change, and to also learn about her new movement: “Reboot the Future” which seeks to “encourage everyone to live the golden rule everyday”.

Since initially “having my eyes opened”, my world has kept on expanding further and further, as I have grown more and more aware of all the things which need changing around the world. Empathy Action helped me look beyond my bubble, and grasp as many opportunities as I could get my hand on. Indeed, although I would not even have dared dream of this a year ago, I am now on a full scholarship studying Architecture, and hoping to minor in Environmental Studies, at the University of Toronto in Canada.

I can whole-heartedly recommend Empathy Action’s simulations to any and all – but be prepared for your world to change!  

Thanks Kat! We’re grateful for all who take part in the simulations and realise that each person will respond uniquely to empathising with others living in desperation. 

If you would like to find out more about the simulations programme or volunteering, interning opportunities please get in touch.

Kim Polman & Kat Vrolijk 3 years after the initial simulation that inspired Kat

Attending a Secret Cinema Youth screening with the Empathy Action team

Cast photo before the Poverty Trap simulation and day programme for Kingham Hill School

Cast photo before the Poverty Trap simulation and day programme for Canford School

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: Cognitive Empathy, empath, Empathy, Empathy Defi, Feelings, interning, Kim Polman, Kinaesthetic Learning, Learning, Reboot The Future, Secret Cinema, Sevenoaks, Sevenoaks School, simulation, simulations, Sustainable Development, Teaching Empathy, The Poverty Trap, volunteer, volunteering

Geography Departments want their pupils to ‘step into’ the slums

New Delhi, India. Photo by Ben Solanky

“To understand a person you must first walk a mile in their shoes”- African Proverb.   

School Geography departments in the UK are using our experiential activities as key components in their curriculums to help deepen their pupils’ understanding of poverty.

Poverty Focus days have become an annual feature for a number of schools in the UK including Sevenoaks School and Headington Girls School. Geography departments are keen to use the day as essential kinaesthetic learning around the topics of poverty and the less economically developed countries.

The programmes have grown from The Poverty Trap simulation to include a whole day of activities.  This ‘journey’ of understanding includes; slum lunches, workshop and feedback sessions, as well as presentations from the broader school, alumni and other charities.

Mrs MacLeay from Sevenoaks School geography department says:

“As a teacher I’m delighted that our students are being challenged to become agents of change as they step into the shoes of the world’s poorest“

Mr Cunningham, Head of Geography from Headington Girls School tweeted that simulations serve to “bring issues to life” for the school.

Please get in touch if you are interested in running a themed day at your school, workplace or community group.

Sixth form Sevenoaks School student addresses Y9 after the Poverty Trap simulation

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: Empathy, Geography, Geography Department, Kinaesthetic Learning, Learning, Schools, simulations, Slums, Understanding

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