Soul Action: Slum Survivor

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Chichester Baptist Church, chichester, west sussex...

Church name: Chichester Baptist Church, Chichester

Contact: Mark Stratton

What type of Slum Survivor event was it?
We held an original Slum Survivor weekend...

When was your Slum Survivor event?
4th - 5th October 08

How many people got involved?
There were 23 of us!

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Post event info...

We did a modified version of the weekend, starting at 8.30am on the Sat until 1.30pm on the Sunday.

We got soaked and didn't sleep in the slums as it was a crazy night weather wise but all of our young people aged from 11-18 have gone away with some valuable experiences and a new found love of rich tea biscuits...

Hopefully we've raised over £1500 (it's still coming in)!

Thoughts from those involved...

Luke "When I got to Slum Survivor I just thought it would be a laugh but now, at the end, it has shown me that if a child in a real slum could swap places with me they’d think how lucky I am".

Rachel, 13 "After eating rice and lentils once, even the sight of it made me feel sick.  We put our best efforts into building our slums, and ended up with a piece of tarpaulin over some wood.  It was a nightmare to lie in it just for half an hour, but some people have to spend their whole lives in slums".

Carys, 14 "A Prayer - Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this weekend. Although it’s been cold, wet, muddy and at some points miserable, you’ve kept us safe and really shown us how some people live their whole lives.  Please help those people who can’t retreat to the church when it gets cold but who have to stay out in field or street in what ever they can find.  Lord let this money go to the right people and help them to really find you in their lives. Amen."

Lily, 12 "At the weekend we all knew it was going to be a challenge but when our tent leaked we just went and got another tarpaulin.  If we were in a real slum we couldn’t just get another tarpaulin.  We would have to sleep with it leaking, that means we might of got ill and they don’t have doctors so they might die.  This is something that I will remember."

Ollie "I have a massive respect for people who live their lives like that.  How do they still be positive when they have the smallest amount of water and the smallest amount of food and a freezing cold slum.  I certainly couldn’t live with rice and lentils everyday for all of my life."

Perry, 13 "On the first day, after spending an hour and a half building our slum houses our leader announced that 3 of the 7 slums were going to be destroyed.  Mine was one of them.  The harsh reality is this happens to people in slims all over the world.  When it happened to me I felt awful because I had put so much work into it, I can’t imagine how much worse it would be if it was my home that was destroyed."

Anon, "When we came to the church to sleep we were cold and wet and sad, but real slum people would not be able to do that. We slept in the youth room were all the sweets, chocolate and coke are kept, it was so tempting.  It was then I realized we should be grateful for the things we have, because somewhere in the world there are people dieing"

Emma, 15 "I think it’s amazing how people can live their whole lives like this and still have a positive attitude towards everything.  Also I find it incredible how they are so happy about the things they have which we take for granted.  I think it’s really amazing how they still have faith in God when their lives are so difficult"

Chloe, 14 " This weekend has made me appreciate what I have a lot more.  I know that people living in slums have got much less than me and they are still happy.  I have learnt not to take what I have, where I live and what I eat for granted."

Anon, "This experience has made me think about how much we take for granted and how little we actually need to live.  People who live in the worlds slums do not have all the choice we have.  It has also helped me respect the food we have available to us.  Not just food but shelter and warmth.  I hope that the money raised will help repair many lives"  

Suzanne "I have been struck by the fact that so many people live in slums across the world.  I have been looking forward to simple things all weekend.  But the people who live like that sometimes don’t have a home to go to after a few days".

Alicia "At Slum Survivor I liked it because it was a different experience.  I found the challenges fun but some were difficult.  I didn’t like the food but I had to eat it otherwise I would be hungry.  Me and Izzy made our first slum but unfortunately we had to move it around because we were facing the wind.  We had to make another slum which was smaller but it was still comfortable but then we had to have another person in it and it was funny because we were really squashed."

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No Slumber

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