The Distance We Have Travelled : A Teaching Resource About Refugees

Over 2006, members of the Somali, Kurdish and Afghani refugee communities in Manchester were interviewed about their experiences of having to flee their own troubled countries and of making a new life here in Britain.

These interviews help to explain the realities of the refugee experience, challenging the hostile images that often dominate public perception.

This pack of teaching materials is based on the interviews and is aimed at educators in secondary, further and adult education.This pack is in four sections: Section 1 which provides an introduction to understanding refugee issues with information, key terms and key facts; Section 2 which provides profiles of the three countries (Somalia, Afghanistan and Kurdistan) with maps; Section 3 which contains mini-biographies of some of the refugee people interviewed for the project, together with an auto-biography created from their interviews.

These are the personal voices of people who are refugees in Manchester.

All personal names have been changed to protect individual identities; and, Section 4 which contains a series of worksheets that teachers can use to explore the biographical and autobiographical material.