Mr. Chris Luken, a Trinity theology and psychology teacher, is passionate about the problems refugees around the world face. He said, “We have a biblical call to love and serve, especially those who are on the margins.” In order to instruct his students further, Luken organized an event at Trinity with Mr. Chris Clements of Catholic Charities, an organization that “provides service for people in need, advocates for justice in social structures, and calls the entire Church and all other people of good will to do the same.” This event was designed to simulate the process that a refugee would go through to get from their country to safety in Europe or the United States. The United Nation Refugee Agency provides aid to the millions of people who flee their countries. The latest UNRA figures state that the organization wishes to help about 10.5 million refugees (2011). About 4.8 million registered refugees from the Middle East are in the care of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Twenty percent of the UNRA’s total operation is stationed in Africa, and over half of the operation works in Asia. Conditions vary, from well-furnished camps to tent-cities stricken with disease. More than half of these refugees live in urban areas. These numbers come from “registered people.” These statistics could be double, but there is no way to know completely. Clements and Luken tailored the event to simulate a refugee’s experience, including flight from a dangerous village or environment, a border crossing, filling out paperwork in a foreign language, passing language proficiency tests, and medical and nutritional evaluations to enter a new country. The presentation ended with testimony from Clements and a woman who recently left Iraq with her family. The woman wished to remain anonymous to protect herself and her family. A refugee’s language proficiency tests alone can take anywhere from five to 10 years, depending on the person’s nationality and the language they must learn. This entire process is very difficult, and only 10-15 percent of all refugees ever leave the camps. Following the event, Luken’s students wrote a paper about the experience. Several upperclassmen helped Luken carry out this event. Junior Nick Travis said he likes helping people and was motivated to help by Luken. “Mr. Luken is awesome. He inspires me to help others,” Travis said. Senior David Bratcher reflected on the refugee camp experience: “Just hearing what it was like, coming from another country, was very moving.” The event was directed primarily towards Luken’s Christian identity class. Freshman Jesse Hammond learned the unfair process that refugees have to go through by experiencing the refugee camp project firsthand. Hammond said, “With the paper we did, we talked more about our own experience and how we were treated. You could talk more about a person’s interactions. The hands-on aspect makes it easier to learn with experience.” The experience left Hammond with a desire to make a difference for refugees. He said, “Religion gives us a better chance to help people. It gives a reason to do something.I want to help people who have lost their homes to war and famine. It’s good to help people. It’s rewarding.”