volunteering - Empathy Action

Why are we doing Work Experience with EA

2018 Summer EA Interns

We chose to do work experience here at Empathy Action, our names are Dan (year 12), Leigha (year 10) and Tilly (year 12) all from Bennett Memorial. We thought we’d share a little more about it:

Q.Why did you want to do Work Experience at Empathy Action?

Dan: I wanted to do work experience here at Empathy Action because I was challenged at a simulation that they ran ‘to do something’ with the feelings I had felt about poverty. I really wanted to do something.

Leigha: I wanted to do work experience with Empathy Action because I wanted to develop an understanding of world poverty and help a cause that works against it.

Tilly: I chose to do my work experience at Empathy Action because I wanted to have one work experience placement that was a little bit more meaningful and would help to create and inspire the change that we need to be seeing.

Q.What have you been up to?

We’ve been getting to know the team, helping with the tagging and bagging of handicrafts for Action Packs, Wedding Favours and simulations, crafting social media posts (using the hashtag #EmpathyActionStories), sorting out the vast amount of simulations materials and diving into the craft of inspiring compassionate action.

We learnt a subtle difference between commanding people to take action and inspiring people to take action and how empathy can be a powerful tool for social change. We were able to read stories and watch videos around other people who have changed as a result of empathising.

It’s been insightful into the world of charity being here and I would strongly suggest other wanting to help change their world to consider getting stuck into a charity like Empathy Action. Thank you for having us!

Photo Credit Leigha Swaffer

My Desperate Journey by 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:

Building “Desperate Journeys”

“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.

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.

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

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

Global Citizenship, Empathy & Birthdays

Teaching Global Citizenship means allowing the students to deeply feel their responsibilities to those less fortunate than themselves. St Michael’s Prep school teacher, Mrs Chugg, arranged a ‘Go Global Week’ for students to

Develop knowledge of ‘other people & cultures’, and ‘concern & empathy for others not as fortunate as themselves’ and most of all a desire to make a difference.

Following a Christmas craft fair she met with Empathy Action and heard the range of stories form the producers of the products and the Action Pack idea for children’s birthday parties. She asked whether we could return and craft a half day programme for their Year 6s during their school’s ‘Go Global Week‘.

The other week the students explored how they felt about being in the richest 2% of the world. They listened to Sarah Playle, a local mum of 3, share about how she empathised with the refugee crisis in Calais and Europe. She described how her empathy acted as a catalyst to help others in need; particalrly teenagers who have become refugees, travelling vast distances with no families in the UK, and becoming a ‘community family’ for them. They were able to question her about what the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp was like, ask why she wanted to help, and hear about her empathy for those less fortunate than her.

Students touched & felt products that were made from some of the marginalised communities, whilst listening to stories of the producers. At the end the pupils wrote their own “Empathy Action“, their personal plans for action, as a result of feeling for those less fortunate than themselves.

For Mrs Chugg, one of her hopes was to inspire the students to use their own birthday parties to be generous and help others by giving Action Packs as their party bags.

One student said to us “I will try and use Action Packs for my party“. He heard a little more about the producers of the the items, then as his ‘Empathy Action’ wrote:

I will have some of the party bag stuff for my party bags – PROMISE!

One parent fedback from the weekly newsletter to say:

So great to see this and keep our kids eyes open to what’s happening in the world, what they can do to make a difference and being grateful. Will came back inspired to raise money for the Syrian refugees

Empathy Action is returning in a few months to learn more of what these students will do as a result of the empathy programme. More to come from these Year 6s!

If you are interested in finding more about the empathy programmes for your school. Please get in touch here.