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Then & Now: “Imagine- children’s refugee journeys”

On October 6 our friends Ruth Connelly, Dannielle Gostling, Mike Clarke and several others from the cast of Desperate Journeys put on a powerful and inspiring show at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks entitled ‘Imagine’ using children.

It was part of the Safe Passage ‘Our Turn’ campaign to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Kindertransport, a scheme that ultimately led to the rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi persecution on the eve of World War II, and to highlight the plight of child refugees today.  

Safe Passage is calling on the Government to agree to fully fund a scheme to resettle 10,000 children at risk over 10 years from Europe and conflict regions across the world – matching the Kindertransport efforts.

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Playworks Speech & Drama Education and Sevenoaks Theatre Workshop (groups which Ruth, Dannielle and Mike are involved with) worked with their young drama students to turn a creative vision written by Sir Michael Morpurgo into a moving theatrical production, linking the experiences of children in the 1930s to what others are going through today.

Empathy Action was able to provide support, lending some of the Desperate Journeys set and props, and helping to adapt some of the scenes.  For many of the younger children this was their acting debut and they all contributed to help bring empathy for the audience which included local councillors.

The local refugee welcome groups in Sevenoaks and Tonbridge are following up the event with meetings with MPs, county, district and town councillors to make the case for greater help for child refugees.  

If you would like to be involved in Desperate Journeys or activities around it please get in touch.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Desperate Journeys, Empathy with Refugees, Global Refugee Crisis, Imagine, Refugee simulation, Refugees, simulations, Syrian Refugees

My Desperate Journey by Jenny Maslin

Part time EA Administrator, Full time Singer, Musician and teacher, Jenny Maslin

Part time EA administrator, full time singer, musician and teacher, Jenny Maslin

My name’s Jenny and I volunteer with Empathy Action as an administrator.  Having sat through many staff meetings and heard all about the planning and preparations that have gone into creating our new simulation, I was excited (and a little nervous) to see what it was all about. I experienced Desperate Journeys as a participant during their launch week and co-founders Ben and Matt asked me to write about my experience…

I joined a group of 26 strangers from all different walks of life, none of us quite sure what to expect. We were welcomed by the simulation’s director, given a passport, some money and asked to remove our shoes before entering one of the seven marquee tents that housed the whole experience. From there the journey began as we were thrown into a situation where, as a group, we had to make multiple decisions for our group’s safety, under pressure and with limited information available.  I won’t give any plot spoilers, but will focus instead on the two questions that were asked at the end:

‘What struck you?’ and ‘How did you feel?’

When not volunteering with Empathy Action, I work as a musician and teacher. Sound and silence are a big part of my life and would therefore naturally be a focus for me as I walked through the dark, maze-like set. I found myself making observations between the cleverly designed soundtrack that followed us and the feelings I was experiencing: joyful party music; incoming explosions; the harsh voices of soldiers as they burst in on us; pants, sobs and cries of fear from the actors; the heavy silence as our group sat in darkness on a dingy to Europe, listening to the stories of desperation from a fellow passenger; the subtle changes in music as we turned corners and faced new, improved or worsened situations. I was struck with a sense of powerlessness, swept up in a tide of sounds and people I’d just met, travelling to an unknown destination.

I felt frustrated by the lack of autonomy of group decisions, and could see parallels with the loss of freedom of choice a refugee would face. I felt loss when we heard that our host’s family home and street had been flattened, and grief too when the same family had to make the horrendous decision to separate when applying to relocate. Earlier that day I had been enjoying the first signs of spring, gardening in my quiet peaceful neighbourhood. I had exchanged texts with my sister who has chosen to spend 2 years in Australia as part of a secondment scheme. I miss her very much but know that she is safe and happy, will be returning this year, and that I can visit her without many of the bureaucratic hurdles we experienced in the simulation. These feelings were brought home further in a concluding and powerful speech from one of our volunteers, and a resettled refugee herself. Reem told us of her family’s struggle to flee her home country and resettle in the UK. They are still waiting for the remainder of her family to be granted asylum. Her story brought me to tears. I left the simulation in deep thought, humbled and very moved.

As we drew to a conclusion, we were told that there are 65.6 million people worldwide (a similar amount to the entire population of the UK) who have been forcibly displaced from their home: That’s around 1 in 100 of the world’s population. Refugees don’t start out as refugees. They are mothers, fathers, friends, colleagues, students, professionals… human beings just like us. We must engage with this world crisis and do what we can to help.

More accounts of Desperate Journeys:

  • “A Desperate Journey, Seeking Hope“
  • A 16 year olds account

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: Cognitive Empathy, Desperate Journeys, Empathy, empathy action, Empathy Deficit, Empathy with Refugees, Global Citizenship, Global Refugee Crisis, Kinaesthetic Learning, Pickwell Foundation, Refugee, Refugee simulation, Refugees, simulation, simulations, Teaching Empathy, volunteer, volunteering, World Humanitarian Summit Pledge

“Desperate Journeys”, understanding the global refugee crisis through empathy

Empathy Action’s new Refugee immersive experience launches this week to help build understanding and action for the biggest humanitarian crisis since the second world war. 

The UNHCR reports “we are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. An unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18”.

As the saying goes, “to begin to really understand another human being, you first need to walk a mile in their shoes.” Empathy Action invites participants to do just that in this new live interactive experience.

“Desperate Journeys” explores the global refugee crisis by tracking the journey of a family forced from their home in a war torn country. It is a challenging piece based firmly on facts, first hand accounts and case studies to bring home to those taking part the human stories behind the headlines.

The experience is delivered within a maze-like set which we can assemble in a large hall or large marquee (at least 12×18 metres). It runs for 70 minutes as part of a 2 hour package delivered by the Empathy Action team, including briefing and a reflective feedback and discussion session. The experience is designed for up to 25 participants at a time, who will be guided through it by our cast members.

By running such simulations we aim to deepen understanding of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War and give rise to a heartfelt desire to take action.

To speak to us about “Desperate Journeys” or to book please contact us.

More on Desperate Journeys

Developing Desperate Journeys: Acknowledgements & credits

Journey’s End: getting involved after taking part in Desperate Journeys

Simulation FAQS

Desperate Journeys Launch (Jan 2018) Press Release

Filed Under: News, Uncategorized Tagged With: #ShareHumanity, Culture of Empathy, Desperate Journeys, Empathy, empathy action, Empathy with Refugees, global, Global Refugee Crisis, Pickwell Foundation, Refugee, Refugee simulation, Refugees, simulations, World Humanitarian Summit Pledge

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

One Festival Bracelet, Two Refugee Stories

(Photos: Small Projects Istanbul)

A school has become more engaged in the global refugee crisis following an exercise in empathy with students. They have had bespoke bracelets produced for their summer festival, made by several Syrian refugee ladies in Istanbul.

We asked one of the parents, and key donor of the bracelets, together with one of the Syrian ladies, currently in Istanbul who were commissioned to make the bracelets, a set of questions. Their answers were incredibly moving from refugees both past and present looking to the future generation with hope.

What is the most important thing, for you, about these bracelets? 

SYRIAN LADY: Making the bracelets are helping us to make money and support our children. The most important thing the money is used for is rent and schooling for the kids, the most important thing for us and what ‘breaks our backs’ is the rent, it’s more important than the food and clothes, if we don’t have money for the rent they will be out on the streets. We can live without eating so much food, we can live with less, we can live without buying new clothes (nobody is seeing us), we can swap between us and share our clothes. In Syria we owned our own house, we were never in a situation where we needed to think about money for rent, but here in Turkey if we don’t pay the rent it will cause many more problems for us.

SCHOOL PARENT: I am an American journalist, living in England, however, my parents were Bulgarian refugees who escaped from Communism in 1971 and lived in a refugee camp for six months outside Vienna, where I was conceived. My parents loved their country but not the politics of Communism. They received political asylum from the U.S. and my parents arrived to America in 1972 with $80, one suitcase, my baby brother and me on the way. I was the first in all the generations of my family to be born in America. My father was a surgeon in Bulgaria and went on to become chief surgeon at a hospital in Miami Beach, Florida. My mother was a nurse/midwife in Bulgaria and went on to become a maternity nurse in America. They didn’t accept her medical degree from Bulgaria and she had to go back to college to do all her training again as a nurse when she arrived in America. But once she finished her coursework, she found a job as a nurse on the maternity ward at a hospital in Miami and delivered babies there for 25 years until shortly before she died. 

The bracelets to me signify their bravery and voice, in a less-than-accepting world. I’m less concerned about the bracelets themselves per se than about bringing more global attention to the crisis in Syria and that particularly of the refugees, to show that we are all people, regardless of race, religion or the colour of our skin…and that refugees are neither dumb, ignorant, uneducated or trying to game the system of another country. Refugees are in the position they are in because life at home was so dangerous, or their human rights and political freedoms so suppressed that they had no choice but to leave their homeland and beloved countries. We could all be refugees if our governments changed from a democracy to a dictatorship, and the same horrors unfolded in our own lands.

What is your message to the people who will wear these bracelets?

SYRIAN LADY: In Syria I used to feel like a mother more than in Turkey, because in Syria I used to spend more time with my kids, I used to take more care with them. I used to spend in time educating them, playing with them, taking them out, take care of all their needs. But here in Turkey I don’t feel this because I have to go out and work, I am giving them what they need but it’s not enough, I love & provide for them but not in the same way as in Syria, I am taking care of them in the general things, practical matters but not in the deep, quality time, what’s what really makes me a mother. We both suffer from this, me as a mother and them as the children. Our message to the mothers and children who will wear these bracelets is, buy more! Share the message of what the bracelet represents to you! Tell everyone, tell your friends and show everyone, do some marketing and advertising for us!

SCHOOL PARENT: My message to festival goers is to:

“Put your biases aside. What does a refugee look like? You may be surprised to know that a refugee looks exactly like me”, and that “People don’t walk 2000 miles across Europe because they want to go camping and sleep in a tent. They leave their homelands because their human rights have been violated and what they are looking for isn’t your pity, but for acceptance, the chance at freedom and the opportunity to live in a safe haven. They are looking for hope”.

But I have a message for the Syrian women and their families. To them I’d say, “Please don’t ever give up hope, despite how dark life seems at the moment. You are all so very very brave and I have so much respect for how far you’ve come already and the deepest sympathy for your losses at home. You will find a way to a new life and a new community. Trust in the kindness of people, embrace those that help you and keep showing the rest of the world how to open their hearts and their minds.”

What is your hope for the future?

SYRIAN LADY: We wish that our kids will hopefully be successful in their lives and never live the crisis that we are living now. Most importantly I want them to continue their education.

The question was also asked to their children, their response is… at first a hesitant silence, then one of their sons says that he wishes for his mother ‘good work, not more work, but good work, a happy life and to stay strong’
(The mother gives him a gentle nod and he smiles shyly)

SCHOOL PARENT: My hopes for these refugees is that they are granted political asylum soon and are able to find new beginnings where they can find hope, acceptance, peace, safety, freedom and some semblance of a normal life where they aren’t viewed as a refugee but as an equal, and allowed to shine.

… As I prepare to move back to the U.S. in a corporate move that will ship the entire contents of our house on a 40ft container, I just thought how truly privileged I am and how remarkable it was that my parents arrived in America with just one suitcase, having left all their worldly possessions behind that night they escaped. They were very brave.

Most importantly, I just wanted to reassure these Syrian women and their families that there is hope. We were one of the families that made it and succeeded through a lot of determination and hard work. It wasn’t always easy but my parents never gave up.

I owe my parents a lot of gratitude for the life they gave me and the choices they made to ensure our freedom.

I hope my words can offer some comfort and, at a minimum, some understanding.

Events like this allow a crucial moment and platform for people, like these, to narrate a story and craft empathy. We, too, hope that the Syrian ladies’ children could echo words such as these from the school parent in years to come.

If you are interested in creating a bespoke product, working with marginalised communities, for your event please get in touch as we are keen to develop more empathy in events through products and event hosts sharing the stories behind the products.

Displaced Syrian ladies living in Istanbul making the Summer Festival bracelet for St Michael’s Prep School. (Photos: Small Projects Istanbul)

#SM17 Summer Festival Bracelets

Bespoke school summer festival bracelets made in their colours

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: #SM17, Empathy, empathy action, Empathy Actions, Fundraising, Gifts that Give Twice, Global Citizenship, Parents Action, Refugee, Refugees, school action, Small Projects Istanbul, St Michaels Prep School, Syria Refugees, Syrian Refugees

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