What are some of the challenges faced by refugees? Find out and then create a refugee board game to play with your family.
Before you start
- Flipchart and pens
- 1 piece of A3 card per participant, ideally a few different colour options
- Coloured pens or pencils
- 1 pair of scissors per pair
- Clay for making counters/character pieces (optional)
- Cardboard or wood for hardier boards (optional)
- Board games to look at for inspiration (optional)
What to do
Introduction to refugees
Ask young people if they know what the word refugee means. Point them towards the below, and add in any aspects they miss. Make sure you correct anything they say that is wrong in a kind way but also in a way that makes it clear refugees are not what they are portrayed to be by certain news outlets/politicians.
“A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection.”
Amnesty International
Ask participants what are some challenges that you might face if you have had to escape from your country due to persecution or war. Guide them towards the following if they get stuck and write ideas on a flipchart
- Language barriers
- Effects from the trauma of leaving your home
- Separation from loved ones and family
- Culture shock
- Difficulty finding employment
- Difficulty finding a home
- Racism and discrimination
- Money worries
- Difficulties with changing school systems
Introduction to board games
Explain that board games often use squares or spaces for counters or characters to move through the game from the start square to the finish square. If you have board games available you can look at these as examples.
Ask what happens in board games that stops players from advancing. If participants are stuck ask them to think of games like snakes and ladders, monopoly etc and guide them towards saying there are places where players have to move back a space, places where you have to roll a certain number to move on etc. Ask what kind of rewards people get in board games (e.g moving forward x number of spaces).
Explain that refugees similarly frequently face barriers when trying to get to safety, but occasionally get lucky and are able to advance. So we’re going to make board games based around this experience!
Make your own board game
Ask participants to get into pairs or threes to create their board games. The counters/characters are trying to get from a start point of danger, prejudice or war to their end point of safety, freedom, acceptance and a new life. Groups can invent a game from scratch or base it round a board game they know.
Give some ideas for challenges on the squares or on cards that are picked up along the way such as:
- you have been refused entry to this country, go back 3 spaces.
- No-one will rent you a place to live, miss a turn.
- There might be a border line that players can’t cross until they roll a specific number on the die.
And give some ideas for rewards, for example:
- you have found an aid point and been giving fresh water and food for the first time in a week, move forward 2 spaces.
Groups can also think of their own challenges/rewards for their games by using the ideas about difficulties refugees face on the flipchart.
Give out materials so each group can make their board and any cards/counters/other aspects they want to include. One A3 piece of card per group can be the board, and the other can be used to make cards/counters.
Extension
If there is time, or next session, you could play each others games and then discuss how you felt at different points in the game, and the fact that many refugees never find the safety, acceptance and freedom they searched for.
Young people could do some research into the experience of refugees who arrive in your country – how are they treated? What is the government’s approach to them? Which charities help them? What could you do to help?