The “På Flukt” Role Play is one of the most important activities in the Norwegian Red Cross Youth Program. It is a good experience for the youths and volunteers to feel the hard life and suffering of the refuges when they start their journey from their countries to another country seeking peace and a better life.
Group pictor for the facilitators
During the Role play the participants act as refugees, and the facilitators play different roles as soldiers or migration office staff. They treat participants quite rough, typically like the normal treatment that refugees experience by soldiers and officials – both outside, in the nature as well as the migration office.
Different roles for participants.. me , Margret, Mari and Tone in soldiers role.
More than 80 participants Red Cross members and 20 facilitators attended the “På Flukt” plat in Molde in Møre og Romsdal District in Norway, between the 26th - 28th of March.
The participants before the På Flukt.
I had been invited as a youth delegate to participate in this program by Matilde Etholm, the coordinator of the På Flukt play. It was my 3rd participation in this role play, but this time I participated as a facilitator and not as a refugee like the others. This time it was a long På Flukt play, running for 24 hours.
Matilde Etholm, the coordinator explaining the program
In the first day in Molde all the facilitators gathered together for arrangements and to give everyone their roles. I had three roles, the first one to be one of the staff of the migration office, then guide for the refugees to the refugee’s camp in a long journey about two hours of walking. My last role was to guard the participants after they finished the program during their sleeping.
Facilitator meeting at the first day to give them their roles
The day of the play was on the 27th of March. All the participants came and were distributed into families and soon started their journey as refugees moving from Somalia to Norway.
Ida in the role of Somalian lady.
During this long journey they passed through many stages before reaching the refugee camp, which were already organized by the facilitator to look like a real one. There they spent a horrible night and slept in a very cold rainy weather.
Teah and Mari arranging for their roles
There were about (17) participants stopped and discontinued the program after they reached the refugees camps because of the bad weather and exhaustion.
Cold and hard weather for the participants.
The next day we had the breakfast with all the participants and discussed the events of the På Flukt play and thanked everyone for their participation.
The participants having their breakfast with the facilitator at the last day.
Absolutely it was an additional experience for me to add during my mission in Norway working for the Youth Exchange Program.
I am.. the bad soldier..
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