What is the Refugee Run?
Refugees & IDPs “While every refugee’s story is different and their anguish personal, they all share a common thread of uncommon courage: the courage not only to survive, but to persevere and rebuild their shattered lives.” Antonio Guterres, the United Nations’ High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR)
The Refugee Run is another of our Global X-periences, focussing on those who, through war, must flee the place they have called home.
2012 saw Crossroads partner with the UNHCR, and others, to help support the 42 million people in the world who have no place they can call ‘home’: both refugees and IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons).
‘Marrying to survive’ in Uganda Madina, 17, faced a wretched set of options as a refugee in Uganda. She and her family fled the war in southern Sudan but there was little by way of support for her or the four younger sisters who needed care. Her mother asked her to marry so that the bridal price would help. Madina did not want to marry for that reason alone and sought to alleviate their need with income from occasional work.
In the Refugee Run, participants face simulated attacks, mine fields where they may be ‘injured’, life in a refugee camp, hunger, illness, lack of education, corruption and uncertain shelter or safety. Participants may also be marched under guard, subjected to ambush and, ultimately, offered a chance of re-settlement where they must rebuild their lives.
As a refugee, though, without much education or training, she couldn’t hope to get a good, steady job. Crossroads sent a shipment to the town where Madina lives, and she was identified by our local partner to benefit. They gave Madina a ‘start up package’ of things she could use to begin a small clothing business. Now, she owns a mobile business selling clothes door to door. “You are different,” she told them, with gratitude. “You have made me feel loved in a foreign land. With this new business, I will be able to provide for my mother and pay school fees for my sisters instead of marrying. You are changing our lives.’” Also included in Crossroads’ container was furniture for three schools, along with provision for many of the most impoverished families in the community . “You have helped put a smile on many of these faces,” the NGO told us. “You have helped restore hope to those that had lost hope.”
28 2012 CROSSROADS ANNUAL REPORT
Women in Uganda receive sewing training to help them generate income for a secure future.
Crossroads has taken the Refugee Run to Davos, Switzerland, to coincide with the World Economic Forum, as well as running it for school groups and corporate groups in Hong Kong throughout the year. Book an x-perience at www. crossroads.org.hk/lifex-perience.