Slum Survivor

Over the weekend 19^th to 21^st October 2007 part of the church yard at St John’s was taken over by about 25 to 30 young people looking for a home. They managed to get some wooden pallets, cardboard and plastic sheeting to construct temporary living accommodation.

Actually, it was a planned and organised event – “Slum Survivor”. It was an event that the young people and leaders were challenged to put on at Soul Survivor. Soul Action, a joint organisation between Soul Survivor and TearFund, challenged young people to live in a makeshift slum for a weekend, just like one billion people in the world do everyday.

As well as the young people experiencing what it is like for those people they were encouraged to be sponsored for the event and raise money for some of those people – people Soul Action refer to as “the last, the least and the lost”. All this activity drew the attention of the local radio and East Anglian Daily Times (you may have seen the article last year in the porch of St John’s Church ).

Jo Buxton put a lot of time and effort into organising the event in Woodbridge . This included trying to source the items for building the slum, speaking to the Council and the Police, arranging people to keep an eye on the site overnight and organising the young people. About 26 young people were involved in the event and about another 4 leaders.

The first activity was to build their living accommodation. The group was split into “families” of four people and they would live together and cook together over the weekend. The families realised that it would be easier to build more lasting homes if they grouped together and built them alongside each other. The families were allowed to only use wood, cardboard and plastic. They were allowed to use some nails and string to put up their dwellings, as well as borrowing a hammer.

Over the weekend, the young people would be given various challenges. These would be undertaken by the different family groups. Some were challenges that highlighted the plight of those who live in slums, for example having to walk even further to get some water. Another challenge was a three legged walk, which was meant to represent the young people being disabled, to go and get some medicine – only to find that the prescription was invalid. This just showed how difficult it is for the poor to live in these conditions. Other challenges would result in extra food for the winning family, for example making the best and most durable football out of plastic bags.

The young people were only given rice and lentils as their basic diet over the weekend. Occasionally they were allowed some meat or other treat, perhaps if they won a challenge or if someone visited and brought some food. If they did have visitors, the family unit had to offer a hot drink and some food. One person visited the slum and brought some sausage rolls for the young people. I don’t think young people have ever appreciated sausage rolls in the past as much as they did that day.

After the event, the young people reflected on the experience. It was a very cold weekend and they all found how hard it is to keep warm. In fact, once they got cold, there was no way of them warming up. Again, this highlighted the plight of those who live in such circumstances – once you are wet or cold it is very hard to get dry or warm. Another thing that the young people came to realise is how long the days can be just surviving. They missed the basic things that we all use to fill up our day, for example music, television and mobile ‘phones. During the weekend, the young people were allowed to use the toilets in the church. However, on the Sunday some were asked not to use the toilets. This again emphasised the difficulties that people living in slums experience and the prejudice they face.

The young people enjoyed the opportunity to experience what it is like to live as one billion people do every day and they enjoyed the opportunity to work together to get through the weekend. They were also very thrilled to be able to raise money for people who suffer every day. Thank you to members of St John’s Church who helped by keeping an eye on the site over the weekend. Thank you too to the families and members of St John ’s who sponsored the young people. All together they were able to raise an amazing £1940.65.