Ready, steady .... WAR!!

In September, on a Friday afternoon, in Park Bom Jesus do Monte, the MEET group organized a special war simulation for the Erasmus students of Portuguese course at the University of Minho. The goal of this simulation was demonstrating the Red Cross as a humanitarian organization acting in an armed conflict. 

Two groups of students had an opportunity not only to see the work of the Red Cross volunteers, but also had an idea for their role  in four positions- "Prisoners of War," "Artillery", "Humanitarian Assistance" and " Casualty of War”. They had to act as mediators, hostages or medical help. In my post, "Casualty of War" students dealt with four different types of problems- broken arms, internal bleeding, sprained ankle and a dead victim. The task was to decide, which of the victims had to be transported to the hospital first. As a deterrent, the information about the wounded was in Portuguese, therefore the participants could only speak in this language. It was not only supposed to be practicing Portuguese for the students, but also a demonstration of the language barriers that the Red Cross volunteers were sometimes obliged to face. The sounds of the battle created a more realistic atmosphere.

The reactions of students were different- some of them seemed to have fun with this exercise, others addressed the issues more seriously. After some group discussions ("Should we bury the dead person, leave him or take him to the hospital?"), small misunderstandings ("I have arm pain! I think she has stomach problems") and our help (sound signals and gestures were the universal language), finally, the victims were taken to the hospital. One time we made a mistake, the next we decided correctly. The most important thing, was not the order in which the victims got to the hospital, but for the students to understand the goal of our post- the priority was connected to the medical reasons, and not to race, sex, religion or nationality.

After visiting all the posts, the students as well as the volunteers together made a summary of the simulation activity, during which they once again underlined the rules of the Red Cross and clarified any doubts that arose. In my opinion, the project was well received, although it had some points that should be improved in the future.