Admittedly, it sounds like a nightmare; a youth group sleep-over called No Slumber. But read on and you’ll discover that this might just be the best activity you’ll do with your group this year.
Right now, somewhere in the world, there are children left to fend for themselves, to protect their home, to care for their siblings, to make decisions that carry enormous weight but cannot be shared with parents or relatives.
This is what happens when young mothers and fathers die from AIDS-related illnesses. Families fall apart, and children lose their childhood. Medication exists for people with HIV or AIDS to come back from the brink of death – and survive. But way too often because of lack of info, or vehicles to transport people to clinics, or money for fuel, or a volunteer network to offer vital help and support, children lose one or both parents to AIDS-related illnesses.
For child-headed households this is the reality of life; hard – often impossibly difficult – choices about their lives with consequences that stretch across the years to come. Get your group to take part in The No Slumber Challenge and they will find their eyes being opened to a little of the reality of what life is like for just such children.
The deal is simple; from the minute you start, your young people are given a character to play. As a cross between Big Brother and a Murder Mystery party, The No Slumber Challenge
encourages them to think and act as members of child-headed households do. Should they spend money on better food or save it in case they might need to pay for medical treatment? Should they go to school or work? Should they trust the person that offers them an easy way to earn money? And when living with HIV is a reality, how will they manage to access desperately needed treatment?
The No Slumber Challenge immerses your group in a different world, waking up them – and you – to the complexities of life for those irrevocably affected by HIV, as well as the vital work that local Tearfund partners and churches carry out to support them.
Find out more and order your free pack here.