Cuc Lam's Suitcase
History : English : Civics and Citizenship
Imagine that a terrible disaster has struck your area - it may be war, or flood, or drought, or fire, or some other catastrophe.
You have to leave your home. There is just no choice.
You can only carry five things with you. You cannot rely on anyone else because you are aware that you may be separated from your family – perhaps for a long time, perhaps even forever!
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Clothes Blanket Favourite toy Pet dog Passport Extra food Cash Photograph album
Favourite CD Laptop computer Carving knife Your birth and school certificates Your favourite leather jacket Letters from your dead brother Credit card Camera and film Your grandfather's watch, handed down as an heirloom The expensive book you borrowed from a friend The nearly finished novel you have been writing for the last 10 years
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1. Look at the list of 20 possible items opposite to take. You can choose no more than five. Make your choice, and be able to explain why you chose those five, and why you did not choose the remaining 15. Make your choices now, and tick those you choose. Good luck! 2. The choice you had to make above about what to take with you is one that has been faced by the world’s 22 million refugees and other persons of concern to the UN. Of course, most of them had a far more limited choice of what to take with them than you were given, and did not have many luxury goods to choose from – but they still had to choose between what to take and what to abandon for evermore. Most refugees in this situation choose:
In 1975 Cuc Lam fled Vietnam. When she arrived in Australia she had all her belongings in one small suitcase. What did she carry and why? Create an imaginary discussion with her in which you show an empathetic understanding of her situation. |
