What does it feel like to walk in the shoes of a refugee or forcibly displaced person?

After a three-year collaboration, JRS Canada and JRS/USA have unified their simulation exercises. Following online meetings with JRS colleagues from seven countries, JRS Canada’s Tevfik (Tev) Karatop visited Rome to guide a hybrid simulation of A Journey into Exile. Members of the Global Advocacy team hosted the one-day workshop at the International Office. In the morning, Tev facilitated A Journey into Exile with International Office staff, partner organizations, and refugees served by JRS. Twenty participants joined in person, while colleagues from Ecuador, Colombia, Malta, France, Kenya, and India participated online.

In the afternoon, Tev led a two-hour train-the-trainer session to prepare new facilitators for A Journey into Exile. Afterward, JRS/USA’s Clara Sayans joined online to present Walk a Mile in My Shoes and discuss adaptations for different communities. Tev will continue collaborating with each country office to localize the exercise. The day served not only as a training but as a bridge to empathy—helping participants inhabit, even briefly, the world of someone forced to flee.

Before the exercise began, Tev framed the purpose: labels like “refugee” or “migrant” can depersonalize people’s lived journeys, reducing complex human stories to statistics. The goal is to destigmatize the “refugee box.” As he noted, “A refugee is much more than a statistic”—something we may know, but do not always feel.

The hybrid format allowed participants to engage directly, converse, and reflect together, while a remote cohort joined via Teams to listen and observe.

The Experience

Participants were assigned fictional refugee identities—each with a background, motivations, challenges, and limited resources. As their “journey” unfolded, teams faced difficult choices: remain in a camp, attempt a border crossing, or seek safety in a neighboring country. Each decision carried risks and consequences.

Along the way, participants encountered real testimonies and multimedia about displacement, loss, and resilience—reminders that what seems hypothetical is real for millions worldwide. The session planted seeds for awareness, deeper partnerships, and intentional solidarity with people on the move.

The day closed with a feedback session to share emotions, insights, and surprises. The program concluded with the train-the-trainer segment and a look at On the Move, a joint JRS/USA and JRS Canada initiative.