Read Life in limbo in the winter 2021 edition of Australian Catholics and take part in the following questions and activities.
QUESTIONS
- How do families support themselves if they have no access to work or government benefits?
- What are the likely dangers for people or families shut out of public life?
- Is such a system fair or logical?
- Why would a program such as the one where asylum seekers filled labour shortages on farms be a success?
ACTIVITIES
News of the day: Investigate the government’s current position on asylum seekers. Has it changed over the years? Are there people in your local area or nationally that have no access to employment or benefits? Write an article on their situation for your school or local newspaper.
Exploring perspectives: Read the article Life in limbo, and explore some of the issues asylum seekers and refugees face in supporting themselves if they cannot work. How might they overcome these issues at the moment? What is the effect of this system on people’s dignity? Write a first person creative piece or in groups put together a short play, putting yourself in the shoes of an asylum seeker or refugee and explaining what life in limbo is like. What would you like people to know about your situation if you were in their shoes?
Class ‘think tank’: Choose one of the issues raised in the articles ‘Life in limbo’, ‘Trafficking in humans’ and ‘Challenges facing workers’ (ie. Refugee and Asylum Seeker working rights, human trafficking, or insecure work). Assemble ‘think tanks’ in your classroom to find out more about the issue and explore possible political solutions. Gather data about the issue, and find out what solutions have been proposed by organisations and groups working in the area. Once you’ve done this, sit down as a group and discuss what you think might be the best thing the Australian government can do to help combat this issue. Draft a paper or put together a class presentation outlining your think tank’s solution, presenting the data that has informed your decision, and the reason why you think your proposal might have a chance at tackling the issue in a meaningful way. You might even like to send your proposal to your local MP.
Take action: Research a local (or state-wide) organisation that works with asylum seekers and refugees. How do they help support them? Put together an awareness raising campaign for Refugee Week in your school. You might like to consider an activity like living on limited rations for a week, or spending a night ‘in detention’ at the school. The Catholic Alliance For People Seeking Asylum has a range of helpful resources for schools available here: https://capsa.org.au/resources/
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS
Read or summarise Life in limbo in the winter 2021 edition of Australian Catholics and talk with the students about the benefits working brings to them. Discuss if they get paid pocket money for doing jobs around their homes and why they like to earn their own money.
Have the students participate in the winter issue’s Gaming the Gospels, activity. [The activity is repeated below.]
ACTIVITY: Workers in the vineyard
This activity draws inspiration from Matthew 20:1 – 16, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.
Set up some building blocks at the front of the classroom, and ask one of the students to come forward and start building a tower with them. After they have laid the foundations of the tower, ask a second student to join them to start building the walls. After some time, ask a third, and then when they’re nearly finished with all the blocks, ask a fourth student to help complete the tower.
When they’re done, give all the students in the class a special treat – whether they worked on the tower or not.
Now discuss with the students what happened. Was it fair that all the students got the same reward, no matter how much work they did on the tower? Why/why not? Should only those students chosen for the work have received the reward? What does it say about the teacher that they treated each person in the class the same?
Read the Gospel story from Matthew, and discuss with the students why Jesus would want us to be generous with people.
Use the Resource finder on the new Australian Catholics website to find other Gaming the Gospels activities.