Slum Survivor is a great way to both raise awareness of extreme poverty around the world and raise money to help make a difference to the lives of some of the poorest.
The Idea
We'd love it if you rose to the challenge and held a fundraising Slum Survivor weekend in your Church. Our suggested Slum Survivor weekend dates are 26-28th October!
The Challenge
The idea is that over a weekend, from a Friday through to a Sunday, a youth group would take part in a Slum Survivor challenge, gain sponsorship, spend time in prayer, worship and reflection and potentially take over a Sunday morning church service to focus on issues of worldwide poverty.
People who are involved in the Sum Survivor event as Slum Dwellers will undergo challenges that mirror and draw out what life in a slum is like. You can get an idea of the challenges by getting a pack (GO>>) or reading the extras here (GO>>).
All the money raised through sponsorship would go to Soul Action and the projects we support that work in poor communities in South Africa, Zimbabwe and around the world (see some of those projects here: GO>>).
The weekend
We'd love it if Churches and Youth Groups got together and planned their Slum Survivor events on the same weekend... we're suggesting the 26-28th October 2007. You don't have to stick to these dates and you don't have to do a whole weekend of activities, but it would be great to see loads of Churches together raising awareness of the issues at the same time!
The rules
These are the suggested rules that all involved in the Slum Survivor challenge should accept as part of their weekend. They are quite tough, but that's the point! Feel free to adapt them to suit the needs of your group though!
Rule 1: During Slum Survivor, you can only sleep in the slum house you've built or snooze outside.
Rule 2: You'll be able to eat two tasty meals a day - of rice and dhal. During Slum Survivor you can't eat any other food, unless you win it as a prize in one of the challenges you'll face.
Rule 3: During Slum Survivor, all the water you need for drinking, cooking and washing can only be collected from one tap. You'll be allowed to wash in a private shower space, but you can't use running water from the shower - its bucket baths only for Slum Dwellers!
Rule 4: If anyone visits your slum house, you must offer hospitality in the form of food and drink (the guest may refuse to eat, but you can't tell them that, and a drink must be provided for them anyway).
Rule 5: You must be present at the slum on time to participate in each challenge. You may not leave the slum during Slum Survivor unless required to participate in a challenge, or in an emergency.
Rule 6: You'll be limited in the items you can bring into your slum house. Here's what you can bring (if it's not on this list, you can't bring it):
Only one complete set of clothes:
Shoes, socks, shorts or jeans/trousers, t-shirt or shirt, jumper, coat, hat or cap and as many pairs of undies as you want.
One set of cutlery and crockery, a cup, bowl or plate, fork and spoon, toothbrush and toothpaste, a bar of soap, towel, sleeping bag, sunscreen and sunglasses (if you’re doing this in summer), feminine hygiene as required, prescription medication as required, a Bible, a notepad and a pen.
Here's just a sample of what you can't bring:
No other toiletries, makeup, hairbrushes, combs or deodorant. No pillows, blankets, pyjamas or teddy-bears. No mobile phones, MP3 players, discmans, laptops, TVs. No books, newspapers, or magazines, or anything else in the world at all!
Rule 7: If anyone breaks any of these rules then their family will be subject to further limitations on food or other privileges.
Get a Slum Survivor Pack 
We've created a guide with some really practical stuff to help you get started. Plus it includes some material that you can work through as a group that pulls out the heart behind Slum Survivor… that we’d connect with God’s heart and the lives of the poorest, changing ourselves and raising money and awareness to help others.
GET A PACK FOR FREE HERE:GO>>
What about the size of my group?
You don’t have to have a massive youth group or do everything to do a Slum Survivor event. We know that finding time to plan and prepare everything to do with a weekend might take a while, so in the Slum Survivor Pack we’ve outlined an alternative too… Slum Survivor Light.
There’s also loads of suggestions of rules and challenges, but feel free to adapt your events to do whatever you want… and send in your ideas. We’d love to know what worked, so, register your event (GO>>) to have your own Slum Survivor event page and let us knwoyour plans. It would be great to be able to post your experiences and ideas on the website for everyone else to see.
Questions
If you have any questions about planning an event then give us shout... all the details you need are on this page: GO>>
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