A Day in Refugees' Shoes: French Schoolchildren Run Migrant Assault Course

Children at a school in France learnt a great deal from spending a day living the life of a refugee, teacher Lionel Liron told Sputnik.

An exercise for schoolchildren in the French town of Embrun to learn more about life as a refugee has given them a new understanding of what asylum seekers go through, according to Lionel Liron, their teacher, in an interview with French Sputnik.

"I think that they were able to experience the social and psychological conditions in which refugees live. But they experienced it for 24 hours … a real refugee is in a state of uncertainty and never knows when it will end," he said.

For the project, called "On the Run," the 73 children, aged from 14 to 18, spent 24 hours experiencing life as a refugee, during which they had to walk 20 kilometers in the rain, without food and a small amount of water.

73 children, aged from 14 to 18, experienced life as a refugee

© Photo : Lionel Liron

"The route was put together around ten different tests, which had large number of obstacles. The first was to construct a refugee camp. The second was connected to events which usually happen during war, such as attacks and theft."

"We also replicated the activities of a terrorist group, who could forcibly recruit you. We carried it out in the rain and melting snow; at night the temperature reached three degrees."

The children had to complete several difficult tasks over the 24 hours

© Photo : Lionel Liron

"There were also tests in relation to the administrative procedures for leaving the country and arriving at the place where you want to apply for asylum, crossing the border and the formalities of applying for asylum," the teacher explained.

Liron put together the exercise with the help of the Red Cross, and the students received honorary diplomas from the humanitarian organization. 

The children had to survive without food, and with little water

© Photo : Lionel Liron

The teacher is very proud of the "heroic act" of his students, who overcame all the obstacles thrown at them. He said that their parents and the mayor of Embrun also praised the initiative, as a way of gaining a better perspective on the current refugee crisis.

"I think they (the children) understood the massive difficulties of claiming asylum in a foreign country. I think it's very difficult. It's already hard to find yourself in a situation where you have to leave your own country and then seek shelter somewhere else."

The children had to trek in the dark

© Photo : Lionel Liron

"That's why we thought it was our duty to work from the point of view of the refugee. I think the children understood what that person feels like: fear, but also hope. I also think that they realized that you have to walk in somebody else's shoes before you judge them," Liron said.

The teacher said that the current migration crisis is a phenomenon that requires political solutions to tackle the causes of migration.

"Today there are countries like France, which offer asylum to those who ask for it, who are fleeing from war, oppression and torture. I think that this has become a geopolitical phenomenon of global proportions."

"How can we make life easier for refugees? Maybe if they did not have to leave their homes, if there was no war. If you look at this, it's a real human drama," he said.