How to talk to children about refugees?

Are you wondering how to talk to children about refugees?

I’m an advocate for refugees but i’m often left wondering how to talk to children about refugees and the crisis. I am sure i’m not the only one…

How do you have that conversation? how do you share the facts carefully and how do you talk about the different words you hear in the media… refugee, migrant, Syria, war etc.

What is it all about?

Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty is a sensitive and accessible account of the refugee crisis facing millions around the world. It examines the root causes of mass migrations from both a historical and current perspective and includes the stories of individual refugees and migrants.

Far From Home is easy to read, it chunks up the topics into easy to digest sections all illustrated by case studies.

Topics covered in Far From Home

The book talks about refugees and migrants without playing to the stereotypes we see in the media. For example:

Migrants do not only move from poor countries to richer ones. Large numbers of people from wealthy western nations move to a new country to settle.

This is really helpful when talking to children about migration, it is important to explain that migration is happening across the globe.

Case Study: A rich cultural life, not all migrants “large numbers of people from wealthy western nations move to a new country to settle”

Far From Home tackles topical issues like The Dubs Amendment, Trump and various governments response to the refugee crisis.

There is a helpful timeline and glossary for quick reference at the back of the book. And throughout the book you will see references to the maps in the front and the back of the book. The maps and references help explain the countries they are from and the routes refugees and migrants take.

Migrant routes across Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Where can you buy it?

I first discovered Cath Senker’s book: Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty at my local library. Cath has done a really good job writing a book that is both informative and sensitive to the situation.

It is readily available on the web too. I’ve now bought a hardcopy. I will use this as part of my kit for community and school outreach.

Who is this book for?

Anyone who is wondering how to talk to children about refugees. It is still quite dense for my 4 year old, but I think it is easy to look through. You can pick out some of the pictures and maps and talk about refugees using the case studies to illustrate the story. I was able to point out Moria – Lesvos where I had been earlier this year.

The book is carefully arranged by key topics and uses language that is simple and straight forward. I will be taking this book with me when I visit schools and local community outreach activities. If you wondering how to talk to children about refugees I highly recommend this book.