This activity leads participants through the different stages symbolising the different obstacles immigrants face when they arrive in a new country.
What you need
- A big outdoor space
- Obstacles (e.g. chairs, tables etc)
- String (to put between 2 trees)
- Stamps (made from sticky tape coloured in two different colours)
- 3 flags (symbolised by scarves)
Before you start
Prepare and ‘obstacle course’: a path with chairs or tables placed as obstacles. You can also include a spider web made out of string with holes big enough for each of the participants to fit through.
Put a rope between two trees (about 1.5 metres high)
Prepare 60 ‘stamps’ – 30 in one colour, 30 in another, made from the sticky tape
Look up immigration rules in the UK to understand the basics.
What to do
Explain that in the next 1.5 hours, the participants will have to fulfil a serles of tasks representing the challenges immigrants face when they try to move to and settle down in a new country. In some they will work together, in others they will compete against each other. The aim is to fulfil all the tasks, which will enable them to have a good life in the new country. Don’t tell the participants what the different tasks symbolise.
Getting to the new country – The participants go in pairs and have to pass the ‘obstacle course’. A facilitator is observing the obstacle course and can send participants back to the start for no reason, or stop them moving through the course.
Bureaucracy to receive resident permit – The participants are told to take off some of their clothes, put them all together and order them from dark to light colours. Then they have to form a word with all their clothes (e.g. ‘immigration’ or the name of the country you are in).
Receive a work permit and find a job – The participants have to cross a ‘wall’ made of a rope between two trees, about 1.5m high. They cannot touch the rope. They can help each other but everyone has only two attempts. A facilitator takes note about who needed one attempt, who needed two attempts and who didn’t succeed.
Advancement in society – There are three groups representing different social classes. The groups have two or three different missions to accomplish, depending on their class:
- Steal flags from the other groups.
- Put stamps on a plece of paper from a higher social group in order to advance to their level.
- Protect their own flag and stamp sheet
- Every social group needs to prepare a flag (you can use a scarf). They have five minutes to hide their flag. During the rest of the game, all groups try to find the flags of the other two groups.
- The middle class and the upper class both have a sheet of paper, which is put on a tree/wall.
- The lower class has to put 20 stamps on the sheet of the middle class.
- The middle class has to put 10 stamps on the sheet of the upper class.
- The middle and the upper class have to defend their sheets. They are not allowed to use force when defending – they can defend their sheet through standing in front of it, but no one should be allowed to push others around or use any forms of violence.
The game is over when one group has accomplished their tasks.
Debriefing
- How do you feel now?
- Did you feel disadvantaged in any of the activities?
- What was the most difficult step for you?
- What did you enjoy most?
- What could the different steps symbolise in the life of an immigrant?
- What are the different steps an immigrant has to take when arriving in a new country? (It might be useful to look up the immigration rules in your country to add to the discussion.)
- Why is it so difficult to become a citizen and advance as an immigrant?
- Why do people emigrate, despite all the difficulties they face in the new country?
- Is Immigration good or bad (For whom, and why?)
- What can you do to support immigrants?
This activity is from IFM-SEI’s On The Move Resource which is a handbook that explores the topics of migration, refugees, visas and regional youth work in order to educate and fight for world where a child or young person’s rights are not dictated by where they are born. This resource highlights that it is vital for young people to understand the issues around migration and mobility as a first step in being able to identify and get practical skills to help tackle these human rights infringements. It includes practical guidance on how to include refugees and migrants in your youth organisation and its activities. Find it here.