(Elgin) –  As Canadians, most of us will never get a first-hand look at what life is like living in Darfur.

So in order to raise awareness around the growing humanitarian crisis in western Sudan, a group of students from Rideau District High School have developed an interactive game that gives participants an idea of what life is like in the region a half a world away.

With the help of a SPEAKUP grant, a ministry-funded grant that allows students to get involved in creating projects that raise awareness around real-world issues, 10 students in the group Students Against Apathy in Darfur (SAAD) and history teacher Chris Sleeth have worked together to study the current situation in Darfur and develop a game that showcases a day in the life of a refugee.

To participate, students must choose from a stack of recreated UNICEF identification cards that include real names and family situations. Once they know their mock life, they participate in five activities: a simulation of prayer time, a water retrieval game, a disease wheel, a soccer/landmine game and a food distribution game.

“The whole game takes about one hour,” said Becca Elliott, a Grade 11 student and SAAD member. “We tried it out with some RDHS students at for the first time a couple weeks ago and they really liked it.”

Elliott said the game is a great learning tool because it allows participants to act out realistic situations.

“For the water retrieval activity, we had all the girls go to the gymnasium, pick up a 20 pound weight and carry it outside to the end of the baseball diamond,” she said. “This was to represent how refugee women fetch water several times a day. In reality, many of these women are raped along the way.”

Cathrine Buethe, another Grade 11 student and SAAD member said she thinks the game is much more effective than a petition or a list of facts.

 “This game puts participants in the shoes of the people living in Darfur,” she said.

Buethe also said she and the SAAD members hope other schools will become interested in incorporating the game into the classroom. She made a presentation about it at Student Senate in Kemptville on April 24 and received high interest from several principals, teachers and students.

“When I did the presentation, many people were teary,” she said. “There is so much happening to the people of Darfur; this is our way to help.”

Sleeth said he’s been studying Darfur for over six years but it wasn’t until last year that SAAD was created.

The group’s initial goal was to petition willing Canadian athletes to wear a pin they designed at appropriate

venues leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Unfortunately, certain International Olympic Committee policies wouldn’t allow the athletes to wear the pins, but that didn’t stop SAAD from moving forward and coming up with new initiatives.

“There are so many minor issues that receive media attention but nobody seems to care about Darfur,” Sleeth said. “This is an extremely complicated issue with an enormous and equally complicated history, but for me, this is about a government wiping out its people. We know what’s going on but nothing substantial or expedient is being done about it. With SAAD, we really want to get this information out into the public.”

Sleeth also said he’s very proud of SAAD members for taking on such an incredible project.

“The game was created by students for students,” he said. “There was a lot effort and it’s paid off. They’ve done an amazing job.”

SAAD will be presenting the game to University of Ottawa Enrichment classes on Tuesday, May 5.

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For more information, please call:

Chris Sleeth

History Teacher

Rideau District High School

613-624-5438

Posted May 9, 2009