Lesson plans for ages 12-14 in Geography: Living Conditions in Refugee Camps in Africa

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Somali children attending school in Hartisheik are preparing to start a new life on their return home to Somalia.

© UNHCR/L.Taylor

LESSONS 2-3: Maintaining a Refugee Camp

Preparation

Have ready a class set of Student Activity Sheet 2: Comparison of an African Refugee Camp with your Home Town and of the relevant

articles from Refugees, no. 105, 1996, including the map of Ethiopia on page 6 of that magazine.

Map of Ethiopia.

© UNHCR

Procedure

As a follow up to the previous lesson, ask the students to think of some differences between life in a crowded refugee camp and life in their home town.

Present Student Activity Sheet 2 and the articles to be read. Students could work quietly in pairs to list points in each box of the table.

After a while, take the opportunity to discuss the students' answers. It is very likely that, without fully understanding why, the students will begin to generalise the comparisons they have made into considerations of justice, equality and fundamental human rights. Be prepared to allow them to explore these issues. Even if they seem to leave behind the subject matter of the lesson for a while, it is not a waste of time.