Day One: immersion into what it feels like to be a refugee

March 5, 2012

Today, Monday, was day one of learning what we would be doing the rest of the week and taking a tour of where we would be teaching English, but day three of Louisville, Kentucky.

We got things started with a “mock refugee camp,” where all twelve of our lovely group members went to a middle school not too far from where we are staying. We met with the coordinator of Catholic Charities, Chris, in the morning and he gave us a runthrough of the day. Before we left we all piled into the car and a couple of us has to scrape the snow of the windshield of the car. Every sudden stop would come with a clump of snow coming down onto the windshield having to have the wipers come in and brush them off. As we arrived to the middle school, we ran through the slush of snow, with the occasional snow balls flying through the air headed straight for some people trying to dodge them.

Finally when we entered the warm gym, everything was set up. The first thing I saw was a zig- zag of string from side to side that you would see in a Mission Impossible movie with lasers that you cannot touch. This was the “border” that the middle schoolers had to cross without touching the strings or they would have to turn back around and start all over or try and enter the country again. As a refugee, when trying to flee the country many obstacles emerge even before trying to enter the process and paper work.

The next station was the registration table, where they were given a form that they had to fill out in Spanish to show them that refugees had to fill out their information like name, number of people in their family, why they are fleeing, and if they have any health problems, in another language.

The next station was the health station, where they would “test” the children and would diagnose them. Some children had string in their hair to signify they had lice or bandages in their hair. We had some children who had to play the role of someone who was missing limb or was pregnant, to show them how much harder it was for refugees who were in those cases to pass.

The next station was the station I was in, the school table. Here we had to speak to the children in a different language. The only way for them to pass was to say the numbers from 1- 10 in a different language. This was the only way they could go through the next round. There was French, Arabic, Korean, Spanish, and Italian. It is crucial for refugees to learn the country’s language in which they are entering, so they are able to become dependent. Schooling is also important because they are expected to enroll in school or get a job, which usually requires learning a new language.

The next station was the nutrition station, where they would give them food and demonstrates the small food rations refugees receive.

The final station was UNHCR, the last station to approve them into the country, if they did not have all the credentials and paper work they could not enter. Through this whole process they could be rejected and turned down all the way to the end. This was my favorite part of the day, making the children laugh and smile, as they got to take a break from school to come help both themselves and us learn about the process of being a refugee.  

--Angie