The biggest challenge for a non-profit whose mission is to accompany, serve, and advocate for the rights of refugees, migrants and displaced populations, is to fight against constant anti-refugee, and anti-migrant discourses. Over the last few years, JRS Canada has discerned that sharing refugee stories to raise awareness is a unique calling which has been responded to through the creation of: A Journey Into Exile simulation exercise.

How it all began

A Journey into Exile was originally launched in 2017. It was inspired by an awareness-raising simulation exercise created in 1997 on the plight of Indigenous People called the Blanket Exercise, which also became a global phenomenon.

The Covid-19 pandemic paved the way for an on-line version of A Journey into Exile that was created in 2020. It allowed JRS Canada to continue to raise awareness about refugees and their experiences amid the lockdowns.

In 2022, JRS Canada welcomed Tevfik Karatop as Project Manager who has overseen the project since. He has offered 170 sessions of A Journey into Exile, including in person, hybrid and online sessions through the last four years.

What is it? 

This interactive simulation assigns participants a refugee character and encourages them to make both individual and group decisions. Through role-playing, they experience what it means to flee one’s country and navigate displacement.

Throughout the exercise, participants become aware of the risks, challenges, and difficult choices refugees face by making decisions every day. Then, as they make them, they are physically “displaced” within the space, allowing them to experience displacement in a tangible way while trying to find safety.

Some may end up in refugee camps or urban areas as displaced people in different parts of the world. Storytelling plays a central role in this simulation, and each refugee story is unique.

How the project became global

After successfully bringing the simulation exercise to many schools, post-secondary institutions, parishes, and other organizations throughout Canada and the United States, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Canada became committed to accompany other JRS country offices throughout the world to adapt and implement the simulation exercise to their own local context.

Among the pioneers were the following partners: JRS Colombia, JRS Ecuador, JRS Malta and the Refugee Council of Lithuania.

In November 2024, during an advocacy meeting in Malta, multiple JRS offices endorsed their previous interest in working together to create local versions of the simulation exercise. From this common interest, JRS Canada started to work on the Global Project. 

After a few regional online meetings in the summer of 2025, Tevfik Karatop created a train-the-trainer workshop for future facilitators. The project gained significant momentum in Rome during the Jubilee Week of Refugees and Migrants at the end of September 2025.

During that week, Tevfik Karatop organized a successful hybrid training day for JRS colleagues from nine different offices, alongside representatives from organizations such as the Scalabrinis and Centro Astalli. Following this session, Tevfik Karatop began collaborating with local offices to develop regional versions of our materials and organize online training. Since then, Tevfik Karatop has successfully trained 30 facilitators in Rome.

Other successful sessions include a hybrid experience being offered to refugees in Kakuma, Kenya.

“This simulation exercise really made our day. Some of these teenagers found a new story when they saw the struggles of people taking risks and crossing dangerous zones just to pursue their dreams. It was incredibly moving to see them connect so deeply with these realities. I am very, very happy because I realized that these young youth managed to connect to some realities that other individuals are facing every day,” wrote one of the participants, Dieu Merci Lunndo on his LinkedIn profile.

A Journey Into Exile hybrid session in Kakuma, Kenya.

JRS Canada also received positive feedback from the Refugee Council of Lithuania on the simulation exercise proposed by our Project Manager:

“Grateful and inspired by our partnership with Jesuit Refugee Service Canada to bring and adapt the powerful simulation workshop A Journey into Exile to the Lithuanian context. What stands out most are the participants’ voices. Again and again, they describe the experience as truly transformational—shifting perspectives, deepening empathy, and making the realities of displacement feel immediate and personal,”said Lina Grudulaite, Director of Refugee Council of Lithuania.

“Many participants leave not just moved, but motivated—to contribute, to support, and to actively engage, often through volunteering with refugee communities. Proud to be part of something that doesn’t just inform but inspires action,”added Lina Grudulaite.

This approach has proven effective in creating a strong physical and emotional experience that fosters compassion for displaced people and encourages participants to take action with and for them.