Interactive poverty exhibit at Bulwer Avenue this weekend

Friday 24 May 2019

The Compassion Experience this weekend will bring to life some of the conditions of poverty experienced by children in developing countries.

A UK based company is bringing over the mobile interactive exhibit for three days this weekend.

The 70-foot mobile trailer, created by Christian child development charity Compassion UK, has been designed to demonstrate what life can be like for children living below the poverty line in a developing country. The family-friendly event explores the daily lives of some of the most vulnerable children in the world and the struggles they face in accessing basic needs such as education, healthcare, food and clean water.

More than 780 million people across the world live on less than £1.50 ($1.90) a day, the majority of whom live in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Statistics tragically show that on average 15,000 children under five die every day from preventable causes, with 45% of these deaths being caused by nutrition-related factors.

Within the Compassion Experience trailer Sameson, a boy from Ethiopia, and Shamim, a girl from Uganda, tell their story of their childhoods and their own experiences of the vulnerabilities, restrictions, and dangers that poverty brings in their respective cultures and contexts. The exhibit also shares how they have both overcome these with support from their local church, and projects embedded in their communities, which ensured they received a quality education, had enough to eat, emotional and spiritual support, and any needed medical attention. Both now young adults, Sameson and Shamim are now giving back to their own communities. 

The Compassion Experience has been designed to be interactive, bringing to life Samson and Shamim’s experiences through tactile, audio and visual displays.

The Compassion Experience will be at the  Ferryspeed Distribution Centre on Bulwer Avenue on:
Saturday 25 May 2019 10:00 – 18:00
Sunday 26 May 2019 13:00 – 18:00
Monday 27 May 2019 10:00 – 15:00

The event is completely free, and open to members of the public. Booking is not compulsory, but if preferred, advance bookings can be made at: compassionuk.org/experience

Guernsey resident, Martyn Langlois said:

“The Compassion Experience is a tremendous opportunity for people in Guernsey to experience the life and the homes of two African children, without having to travel and we are thrilled that it is coming to the island. The experience brings Africa to Guernsey. It also enables the many Compassion sponsors in Guernsey to become more familiar with the work of the charity.”

Compassion UK is an international child development charity with more than 60 years' experience of working with some of the world’s poorest children. At present nearly 2 million children attend Compassion’s church-based projects in 25 of the world’s poorest countries.

Justin Dowds, CEO of Compassion UK said:

“When people think of poverty, they often think of the lack of material things, but actually, poverty is the lack of freedom to make meaningful choices. Poverty narrows children’s horizons and undermines their ambitions. Through our holistic child development programme, Compassion stirs hope in children. You can witness that hope coming to life through the Compassion Experience.”