Faith and Mission

Faith In Action experience to “The Intersection”

4 October 2023

Reflections from students in the ‘Faith in Action’ classes on their day in the city learning about homelessness, diversity, stereotypes, colonisation, hierarchy, power, addiction, sympathy, empathy & apathy. It was a wonderfully eye opening day where students experienced life ‘walking in another’s shoes.’

On 4 October, our Faith in Action class went on an excursion to the city. Here we analysed the impact of stereotyping people and how this can be harmful. We learned more about the meaning of having empathy and sympathy towards others. Upon reflection some students wrote the following.

Assumptions and Stereotyping

Our Faith in Action excursion to the city enabled us to observe and understand the life of people who are homeless. We walked around the city and focused on the idea that “where we stand is what we see” and that we should look beyond stereotypes and hear others' views and stories. Mia, Leah & Emma

Our first session was presented by Blythe and Ciara. They taught us about how our assumptions impact our daily lives. We realised that many stereotypes are untrue and that we shouldn't class a group of people as a generalisation as everyone is their own person. Razan, Emma, Angelique and Carmela

Homelessness in the City

While walking around the city we noticed that many people were experiencing homelessness. We recognised that everyone is different, with different lives and different stories. Therefore, we were reminded that we should put ourselves in someone else's shoes in order to understand their struggles and endeavours. Razan, Emma, Angelique and Carmela

While walking around the city on an empathy walk, it led us on a tour of churches, alleyways and streets. We learnt about the history of homelessness in the city and the importance of hearing multiple perspectives through stereotypes. We learnt about how we shouldn't judge people by their physical appearance, class or their place on the social hierarchy. Natalie and Layla

During our walk around the city, we discussed what we knew and what we noticed about homelessness. This extended to imagining what it would feel like to be homeless in Melbourne. Alba

Empathy

This workshop was a game to teach us about empathy.

Star, our mentor from Intersection, started by making a building with blocks. She asked the students to then split into two teams. Two people from each team volunteered to represent their team. I was fortunate enough to be one of those for my team, along with Layla. Emma & Razan were representing their team. The objective of the game was to replicate the building Star had made.

In each pair there was a builder and an instructor. The catch was that the builder was completely blind and the instructor was not allowed to touch the blocks at all.

This task was very difficult.

All the builder had to do was to follow the instructions. The instructor had to work very hard to give precise instructions. In the end Layla & I came out on top as the ‘unofficial winners’. What do I mean by this? Although we finished first, we received weird blocks which included metal bumps and blocks that were rotated differently to the Star’s blocks.

The activity was very stressful and confusing yet it forced Layla to put herself in my shoes. It was a great way to learn about empathy. Overall the whole empathy workshop was extremely enlightening. Olivia K

Star taught us about the importance of having empathy and sympathy towards others. She went further to explain that empathy and sympathy are not emotions, rather they are skills. Razan, Emma, Angelique and Carmela

The workshop enabled us to learn about the difference between empathy and sympathy. Empathy and sympathy changes our perspective and behaviour towards people around us. Mia, Leah & Emma

We participated in a range of fun activities that made us question how we judge others. The Empathy Workshop was fun to watch and it really made people frustrated, which was quite funny. The idea was to see if we could help and support people through frustrations through feeling empathy towards them. This was my favourite part of the day. Olivia G, Ivonne & Sehajpreet

After enjoying lunch at Melbourne Central, we spent the rest of the day participating in an important workshop on empathy where we were challenged to use teamwork skills and stand in someone else's shoes. Charlotte

During the empathy workshop, we were able to learn how to effectively work together and learn the difference between sympathy, empathy and apathy. I highly recommend participating in this class, especially after this excursion which was entertaining and very informative. Natalie and Layla

It was a lot of fun watching the four leaders participating in the games. We then had a talk about what empathy is and how we can practice having empathy for others. Alba

Summing up our Experiences

These sessions challenged all of us to question our opinions and how we stereotype others. Razan, Emma, Angelique and Carmela

We think this excursion was an eye opening experience and a great way to ease into the idea of putting our ‘Faith in Action’.Mia, Leah & Emma

We also listened to a story book which focused on us all not having to be the same as everyone else. This really stuck out to us. In pairs we had to answer a range of challenging questions. This really took me out of my comfort zone a lot, but I still ended up enjoying it. Olivia G, Ivonne & Sehajpreet

The lovely Intersection team Blythe & Clara worked with us throughout our sessions. The girls had a great time and learnt new information that they will keep and remember forever about homeless people. Charlotte

We thank Ms Smith and Mr Mogg for organising such an insightful and effective excursion for our Year 9 and 10 students to experience. The reflections from those who attended show how they were able to feel, for at least one day, on what it may be like to experience the effects of homelessness and social exclusion.