Creative Crew – Mercy Secondary School

Why as a team did you choose to focus on this challenge?

We decided collectively that this topic is very relevant and we all agreed that a step needs to be taken. We realised that with incoming refugees more help needs to be of offer. Their quality of life isn’t good enough and something needs to be done. Another motivator for us choosing this challenge was that we have connections with people who have faced these problems. A new student joined our school this year from Ukraine and one member of our team has been friends with another person fleeing from the war. Because of these we feel connected to this challenge.

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What do you know now about the challenge that you didn't know before?

From our research we have discovered numerous findings. Displaced people can be separated into two categories: conflict induced and disaster induced. Conflict induced is caused by wars and humans, while disaster induced is caused by natural disasters, climate change, etc.. The amount of displaced people worldwide has risen to its highest number ever of 100 million. It reached this shockingly high number due to the aggression between Russia and Ukraine. These people are coming into low/middle income countries which can put pressure on numerous resources, i.e. food, water, electricity; these people are also placed in unsuitable living conditions.

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What have you learnt about your Hero?

Our Hero is Yursa Mardini. She is a refugee from Syria and fled to live in Germany. She was faced with having to try and flee Syria, joining a new community, getting housing, jobs, etc.. The reasons for this is because she decided it was unsafe for her to live in Syria while the Syrian Civil War was raging across their country , so her and her sister decided they had to flee. They were faced with the enormity of their journey and how dangerous it would be for them. Yusra Mardini competed in the 2016, and 2020 olympic

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If you could improve one thing for your Hero what would that be?

If we were to change one thing for our Hero we would change their living conditions. They come to our country looking for better opportunities as they can longer feel safe in their previous country. And yet when they come to our country there are not suitable housing or jobs for them. They come and are forced to live in camp sites with no privacy and limited resources that will be split between their group. This can not be sustainable for displaced people and our Hero for any longer.

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Do you have any ideas for a potential solution? No matter how raw, share them with your Mentors for feedback.

An idea we were debating was to open a gaeltacht-like building that would prioritise attending to our Hero’s needs: food, clothes, shelter, etc.. This building/company would focus on teaching english, skills needed for adjusting to our country, job skills, communication skills, in the form of a few weeks program. It would help anyone who is planning on joining our society and would ensure they could thrive afterwards. This will help our Hero by offering them the necessary skills they need to adjust and live peacefully.

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Ask your Mentor anything …. This is a chance to ask your Mentors a direct question relating to your Big Idea.

Is our idea impractical and would be we able to achieve it? Is our idea original? Is this financially possible? Could this be a solution to displaced people? How would he manage them after the program? Would they have to stay until they found a home? How would we help them get jobs after the program?