Review  Handout 5.1: Facts on Refugees and Asylees and Handout 5.2: Where Do Refugees Come From? and discuss students’ questions. Be sure that students know the difference between refugee and asylee status.

There are an estimated 14 million refugees and asylum seekers in the world today.  (Source:  Human Rights Watch: Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Asylum Seekers)

Over half of the world’s refugees are children.

The root of the word refugee is “refuge.” Instruct students to look up “refuge” and add it to their vocabulary list.

Refuge. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000, Houghton Mifflin)

1. Protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship
2. A place providing protection or shelter.
3. A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.

Question: What do people seek refuge from?

• People leave their homes because of fear—fear of death, torture, or imprisonment, or other forms of persecution due to their race, religion, political opinion, social group, or national origin.
• Most often, refugees leave to go toward an unknown place.
• Think about the process—the stress of making the decision to leave, the stress of leaving one’s home, family, and community. The stress, both physical and emotional, of a perilous escape and journey to freedom and the toll of living in a homeless, refugee environment. Also, the stress of thinking about an unknown future, and the fear of being returned to a place of persecution.

Have students read Handout 5.3: Charting the Refugee Journey and Handout 5.4: Principal Sources of the World’s Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Students choose one story from the handouts and write in their journals (or on the handout) to describe the PRE-ESCAPE and ESCAPE experience for the characters. Share descriptions as a class or in small groups.