Your challenge - can you do it?
and help a child like these refugees from South Sudan to go to school.
Can YOU be a REFU.ME?
Here in Australia, we can never know how hard it must be to have to flee your home because of conflict and poverty, and become a refugee.
Just looking at what’s in the media can give us a false idea of what refugee life is like.
In REFU.ME Challenge you challenge yourself to a tiny taste of what it’s like to be a refugee … and at the same time you raise money to help refugee children go to school.
There are 10 challenges – if you’re brave, you can do them all.
If that looks too tough, simply choose those that suit you.
Whatever you choose to do, ask people to sponsor you.
Each $26 you raise can support a child to go to school – in refugee camps in Kenya and Djibouti, and in war-torn countries like South Sudan and Somalia.
Are YOU up to the REFU.ME Challenge?
and do them all in one day.
If that doesn’t suit you, choose less challenges, or spread them over a number of days.
When you complete each challenge, simply mark it off in your REFU.ME Challenge Passport.
In Africa, the average distance a woman or child must walk to collect water is 6 kilometres. Your challenge is to walk 6 kilometres carrying an empty bucket. As you do, think of the child in Africa who must carry two full buckets.
When you flee as a refugee, all you can take is what you can carry. Food. Clothes. Water. Precious photos. You certainly can’t carry anything large or heavy. Your challenge is to live the day without furniture. No kitchen chair, school desk, lounge, bench outside … you need to stand all day, or sit on the floor.
When a family reaches a refugee camp, they receive only minimal survival support. That’s why even children look for any job they can do to help meet family needs. Your challenge is to do one hour of household jobs for the family. That might sound easy – but remember you also have your other challenges like going without electricity, and having only 15 litres of water.
While refugee camps can have solar-powered lights around toilets and water-points, most shelters at night are in darkness. Your challenge is to do your homework by candle-light. NB: Refu.Me’s under 10 years should have adult supervision.
The GRACE Project aims to Give Refugees A Chance with Education.
… to ‘match’ the 40,000 children and young people in Lutheran schools in Australia.
Eshetu is a refugee, and says he became a teacher because “I want to support the children”. You will help train more refugees to be teachers.
When Eugenie’s parents died, she and her sister were taken in by Pastor Issa and Jeanette. Your support from pre-school has Eugenie aiming to be a lawyer.
Elizabeth is 23 years old … but before help through ALWS had only completed Grade 1. Now you can help young people who missed out on school to catch up.
Asende has 100 students in his class. But before help from Australia, the roof leaked and walls fell down. There were no desks or blackboard.
Caring for children from crisis to the classroom!