Simulation Games.

Throughout the Short Course much time and effort is put into helping the students gain a better understanding of the world and its' people. Simulation Games are one of the most powerful tools used in this and cover a wide range of topics including: Passages, a UNHCR game simulating the plight of refugees; Bafa Bafa, a game simulating two different cultures, how they react to each other and what these reactions may transfer into in real life; Death of a Dissident, a game simulating the difficulties facing asylum seekers and how they can be complicated by the political situations which exist between different countries..

Death of a Dissident was used for the first time in the UWC movement on the 1999 Short Course in Lithuania by its tutors, Marks and Margaret McAvity. Each of the forty participants have their own individual role involving a number of days preparation and positions range from CIA agent to Amnesty International representatives. The goal of the simulation is to successfully negotiate a solution to the problem posed by a number of Asylum seekers. These people seek asylum in the American Embassy in Authoritania - an imaginary country ruled by a dictatorship. The situation is complicated by not only American interests and the desire of the Authoritanian Leader General Author to maintain his control, but also by several other factors which become apparent as the game progresses. This simulation provides many insights into the difficulties of apparently straightforward negotiations, and with no defined outcome it can take a number of directions depending on how individual roles are played.

"Playing the role of the press in Death of a Dissident really made me realise the extent to which we depend on TV, newspaper and radio. More importantly than that it made me realise that the information we receive cannot and should not be taken at face value, there are many events going on behind the scenes that we may never learn, or that the press may not report. In short the truth is never plain for all to see, but it can be found."
(Bastiaan Bijl, The Netherlands, SC Lithuania 1999)
During the Short Course in Turkey 1999 and Lithuania 2000, participants took part in the "Passages" a UNHCR simulation game, intended to give them the experience of a refugee flight from an area of conflict.

Simulation 'games' are without a doubt, one of the best learning experiences on Short Courses, since "Passages" like other simulation games allowed the participants to feel for themselves real-life scenarios - in this case refugees - and the experience they go through as they flee in the unfortunate event of war. Each participant is assigned a different character within a family, either a grandfather, parent, adolescent or small child and expected to play their role. Participants are exposed to all the difficulties refugees are faced with, from losing their relatives in the middle of chaotic air raids, to surprise assaults by hostile armies, inflexible border guards, the humiliating conditions of a refugee camp and the difficulties of obtaining asylum in a foreign country.

It was indeed a profoundly touching experience which was later very much debated and analysed within the group and this made every participants much more open to the problem of the millions of refugees living in absolutely chaotic conditions all over the world, and how it is every country's responsibility to work towards the solving of this global problem which affects millions.