Written by Ariana Jones

Year 11 field trip to Crossroads brings home the reality of the global migration crisis

Earlier this month, RCHK Year 11 students took part in what many deemed to be an extraordinarily powerful and eye-opening simulation run by Crossroads Foundation Hong Kong. The year group split into half for this field trip, organised by the secondary Individuals and Societies department, with three classes travelling down to Tuen Mun on the 8th and the other three left to wait for another week before going down on the 15th. 

During the simulation, students were put through the adapted stresses and fears that all refugees typically live through at any of the many refugee camps all across the world. The simulation was an enactment of what a single day at a refugee camp would look and feel like, and it left both participating RCHK staff and students in shock as well as in contemplation.

Crossroads Foundation has been working with RCHK for about eleven years now, according to Mr Rhys Thomas, Head of Individuals and Societies, who was the organiser of the two field trips. When asked about the school’s possible reasoning for signing up to the simulation every year, he explained that “By ‘being a refugee’ for a very short amount of time [it] raises awareness of people in other parts of the world and the plight they face on a day to day basis.” 

He then referred to how this awareness helps facilitate the courses of action the school then takes to help refugee crises. “It facilitates us as a teaching and student body to take action (something within the MYP framework), by putting together the refugee packs (either cleaning or hygiene) that will be shipped to refugees across the world.”

Mr Thomas added, “Within I&S we could just stay in the classroom to teach the subject of refugees, but by doing the simulation it should make it ‘more real’ for students.” And as many students later claimed, the simulation truly was realistic enough to fully engage them - even to the point of genuine fear.

Many students agreed on the fact that the environment created within the simulation was so intense that they thought at times they were genuinely going to be put into harm’s way. Upon questioning, student Jake Lamb said that he felt, “Scared. And insecure at times.” Another student, Rina Ng, commented that, “I was so scared, that I was shaking at one point.” But she later stated that “You genuinely get an insight into the situation, and it’s not just in a classroom environment.” She felt that it was “worth it” because of this insight. 

Mr David J. Begbie, who was the director of the refugee simulation during the visit, informed the Year 11s during a debriefing after the simulation’s completion that Crossroads once had a participant - who had real experience in a refugee camp previously - compare the stresses of the simulation as being 14% of what those experiences were like in reality. 

This ringing remark really affected what many of the students thought about the refugee simulation. During an interview with the two Year 11 students Conrad Helau and Jeffrey Parkes, Helau stated that “While DJ [Mr. Begbie’s nickname] claims that it’s only 14% of what’s it really like to be a refugee, it’s already a really meaningful experience to us.” Parkes then commented that “We barely experience hell. That [hell] is only what we understand it to be, but refugees are really living in it.”

During the simulation, there were many occurrences where students were either interrogated, pushed around or shouted at by the trained Crossroads employees - who acted as soldiers that were keeping the refugee camp in order the whole time. The physical interactions that these rushed moments all demanded made the simulation all the more stressful. Parkes commented afterwards that he felt that this benefited the learning aspect of it because “It’s the actual physical experience and it’s way more impactful than if we were just sitting in the classroom learning about refugees instead.” 

This described level of personal engagement is partly the reason why this refugee simulation is arranged for the Years 11s at RCHK every year. Mr Thomas summarised that “We’ve [the I&S department] brought the world (or an issue of the world) alive and “into” the classroom.” 

Mr Samuel Hureau, the business manager of RCHK, also participated in the simulation along with the students on the 15th of January. He stated in an exclusive interview that, “As ESF staff I was surprised because I didn’t think that we could have such a realistic simulation. I think this is the limit of what we [the school] can do as a learning experience.

Upon reflecting back to the emotional reactions that he could personally observe in both himself and the Year 11 students, Mr Hureau commented that “We shared all the same reactions: I think definitely fear and surprise. And also disorientation,” and, “We felt disoriented because we didn’t know where we were or what to do. We couldn’t exactly understand what was expected of us.

The interrogative, unexpected and rushed situations that were included in the simulation were deliberately created. Mr Begbie explained that the unanswerable questions pointedly asked by the soldiers during the simulation were representative of how hard it is for a refugee to officially identify themselves and their family members in a refugee camp

“I must admit I was quite proud of you guys because it was very intense and nobody was actually having fun,” said Mr Hureau. “But nobody panicked or cried, so you showed some resilience.” 

Mr Hureau noted that what he thought was most interesting about the simulation was how the experience can personally reflect back on anyone who participates. He stated that “We all see the stories of refugee camps in Syria, Iraq, Sudan and these places … But we just see the pictures and the images and some words describing everything [sic]. But I think that we actually get to experience this and actually feel what these experiences are like instead of just seeing it happen on the Internet.”