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This special, photo-based look at a major news story, with ideas for discussion and exploration in schools, contains three photographs, providing a fast-moving and varied approach.
Download a powerpoint of the photo.
This is a photo version of the fortnightly news think email which provides succinct news items and challenging discussion ideas.
Snapshots
Explain to students that they are about to see a photograph relating to a news story from 2009.
Invite immediate responses. If you wish to focus students' thinking, ask them to answer two questions:
- Do you think these people are having a good time?
- Where do you think they are?
Display the photo.
Invite students to explore the detail in the picture. How would they describe the facial expression of the boy in the middle? Is he concentrating or worrying? Could he be shouting? What and why?
What about the figure on the left? Is he watching or playing? Or perhaps hoping to join in? Talk about what he is holding. This might suggest that he is on his way somewhere. What errand might that be? Why is the activity more interesting to him?
The colour, shape and style of the tents in the background are characteristic… of what? Do students associate them with anything in particular?
Notice the sky colour, the terrain and the style of clothes and footwear. What does that tell students about the climate or the particular weather conditions?
Focus
Once students have had a chance to contribute, confirm the basic outlines. Yes, those pictured are playing a makeshift game of cricket – and seem to be having a good time.
They are staying in a camp for displaced people run by the United Nations. It is in Jalozai, near Peshawar in North West Pakistan. The tents are typical of UN camps around the world.
Since May 2009, an increase in fighting between the Pakistani armed forces and opposition groups in the North-West Frontier Province triggered very large movements of population. It is estimated that over 2.5 million people left their homes.
News organisations and aid agencies have, naturally, reported the extremely harsh conditions in camps. Invite students to say what they may have seen, heard or read. Camps tend to be overcrowded, sometimes with hundreds of families arriving each day. Life is a battle against wind, dust and excessive heat. Relief agencies and governments work to ensure supplies of food, clean water, toilet and hygiene facilities and medical care.
Look again at the photograph. Invite students to imagine the recent experiences of those pictured. Bring out points such as:
- They probably left their homes at very short notice, with very little in the way of possessions.
- They are likely to have heard and seen the damage to buildings and people caused by mortar shells and rockets fired by people they cannot identify.
- They may have had a long and very challenging walk – or been jammed in overcrowded transport.
- They will have been unsure what to do for the best, along with hundreds of thousands of other frightened and anxious people.
- They are likely to have stayed in various forms of temporary accommodation already – perhaps with host families, in other camps or converted buildings.
- They will have lost touch with friends, and possibly with family members.
- They will have had to abandon all their plans, projects and hopes – or at least put them aside for the present.
- They will have no idea when it will be safe to return, or what state they will find their homes in. Their families' livelihoods – crops or businesses – may have been destroyed.
So why are they enjoying a game of cricket? Does the activity distract them, help them cope? Is it a triumph of the human spirit, a willingness to make the best of any situation?
Developments
Any number of topics can emerge from discussion. Here are some follow-up ideas to select from.
- Discuss with students what else might be going on in camps for displaced people around the world. Do people play other games, sing, dance, and play music? Do they have hairdressers, markets, recreation centres? The answer is yes, some do. The established ones that have been around for years can be like towns. Even in the midst of scarcity and hardship, people will join together to create communities that provide for the broadest range of human needs and desires.
- Invite students to say where they would go if they had to leave their homes suddenly. How prepared for moving would they be? Only a minority of those 2.5 million who moved in northern Pakistan went to camps such as Jalozai. Others went to relatives, host families, or rented or borrowed living space wherever they could find it. Talk about their needs. Do students think that news reports cover these majority of displaced people?
- One of the services offered where possible in camps for refugees or displaced people is free phone calls. How important would it be for people to keep in touch with relatives? What difference would it make to be able to contact other people, assess the situation and plan for the future?
- Enthusiasm for cricket has recently spread into Afghanistan, picked up from Pakistan. Talk about how sport can be a way out of troubles and difficulties. It can be a distraction, and also a way to build a career, even fame and wealth. Look again at the photograph. Three weeks after it was taken, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka at Lord's in the final of the World Twenty20 competition run by the International Cricket Council. How might those pictured have celebrated when they heard?
Credit
This resource was written by PJ White and produced in July 2009. It was updated in December 2009.
For more resources, visit redcross.org.uk/education