Soul Action: Slum Survivor

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Bewdley Baptist Church, worcestershire...

Church name: Bewdley Baptist Church

Contact: Rachel Tiffany

What type of Slum Survivor event will it be?
We're holding a Slum Survivor Street Children themed weekend!

When is your Slum Survivor event?
25th - 26th October

How many people do you hope to get involved?
We hope to have about 8 of us involved!

get the pack...

Get a free copy of the latest Soul Action resource, a DVD with loads of video sessions and a CD ROM with all new Slum Survivor guides and ideas!
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Post event info...

We arrived at church on Saturday morning with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Rachel then briefed us and searched our bags! After confiscating a few pairs of gloves and a scarf we collected our water.

We then started a three-mile walk (up hill) to get to the farm! When we arrived we built our slum after scavenging for materials and dodging cow pats! Once the slum was built, Rachel gave our second challenge! This was to wash the cars that were already on the farm as well as any visitors that appeared! Some of the car owners were fair and paid us quite a few rupees while some barely paid us anything!

Whilst we were washing cars, Rachel poured our drinking water away to illustrate how precious water is! We then had to walk around the field to collect water again!

We then went off into the forest to collect wood so that we could start a fire! Nick and Andy were rather too good at starting fires though!  Just as we were starting to chill around the fire, we had a raid from the police; they chased us down the field.

 The last team were then bundled into the police car and taken about a mile and a half away and dumped on the end of the forest.  They eventually made their way back, feeling hungry and tired!

The next challenge we faced was to each make a football from a few newspapers, some carrier bags and a few bits of string.  Some were surprisingly good, while some definitely wouldn’t be used in the Premiership.  Once we’d tested them, we had a penalty shoot out, that England would be proud of.  I think there was a bit of fix with final score, with the competition ending in a 3-3 draw.  Rather than a trophy, we won something even better, half a bottle of squash and a biscuit each!!!

Afterwards we began preparing the evening meal – rice and dhal! Most of the boys enjoyed it, however Catherine wasn’t too sure! As it was now dark we all decided to go and sit in the slum and start our final challenge for the day which was to make paper bags so that we could sell them in church on Sunday. This started out as a bit of fun, with everyone working well to form a production line, but soon became very boring!

To pass the time, we started inventing games, telling stories and singing songs! Soon after we fell asleep, we managed to get about an hours sleep before the rain came! It then rained all night! We soon discovered the slum was far from waterproof and many of us were awake all night and very wet!

 

No Slumber

There are millions of children around the world who live in homes without adults. Spend a whole night learning more about the choices these children face each day.
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register your event...

Fill out this form to let us know what you are planning and when. We'll put a page up on our site about your event and you'll be able to add pictures and movies too!
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GO BACK TO Your slum survivor pages...

Check out who's doing what around the country in 08 and 09 by seeing the groups who've registered to take part and organise their very own Slum Survivor events!
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Life on the streets...

Around the world 100 million children live on the streets. Spend a day or weekend facing challenges and raising awareness of the lives of these young people.
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The gallery...

About 6am on Sunday we were fed up of lying in wet sleeping bags so decided to get up.

We were rewarded for our efforts the day before by Rachel who gave each of us a piece of fruit for breakfast! Deciding that church would be warm and dry we decided to set off for church at about 8am! We walked the 3 miles to church rather quickly and were glad to be in the warm when we arrived! We all enjoyed the morning service and we made around £50 through the sale of our paper bags!

To pass the time, we started inventing games, telling stories and singing songs! Soon after we fell asleep, we managed to get about an hours sleep before the rain came! It then rained all night! We soon discovered the slum was far from waterproof and many of us were awake all night and very wet!

About 6am on Sunday we were fed up of lying in wet sleeping bags so decided to get up. We were rewarded for our efforts the day before by Rachel who gave each of us a piece of fruit for breakfast!

Deciding that church would be warm and dry we decided to set off for church at about 8am! We walked the 3 miles to church rather quickly and were glad to be in the warm when we arrived! We all enjoyed the morning service and we made around £50 through the sale of our paper bags!

Sadly we had to leave to return to our slum! So we began our 3 mile walk back again! When we arrived back Rachel provided us with rice, kidney beans and spices for lunch, everyone agreed it was the most disgusting meal!

Shortly after finishing we destroyed the slum and went off to the barn for a de-brief. There we discussed how we were surprised at how hard the experience had been and how we were ready to leave as none of us could bear staying any longer!

Our hard work was rewarded by a visit from the community pastor John Rhodes who brought us a box of biscuits! The best tasting biscuits! All in all it was a very challenging weekend that taught us a lot about ourselves, each other and street children around the world.

By Andy, Catherine, Josh, Nick, Robin and Rachel