In the Nieuwe Kolk in Assen, 750 students of the Doctor Nassau College were taught about refugees today. The Nassau College is the first school in Drenthe to offer this lesson.
The lesson consists of a film about refugee Zayn, who has difficulty integrating into Dutch society. In addition, the students will have a conversation with former refugee Mohamad Abdul Rahim. He tells the students the story about how he fled himself.
The film is about refugee Zayn who has difficulty integrating into Dutch society. “The film tells the story about how you integrate as a refugee and how we view it as a society,” says director Reinout Hellenthal from Assen. According to him, the aim of the film is to make students aware of the refugee crisis, especially now that it is such a current theme. “With the current situation in Ukraine, it is also very close for the students,” he explains.
The makers of the film also hope that the students themselves will form their own opinion about refugees based on the stories they hear today. “I think students are influenced by what they see on their phone screens and what they hear at home,” says the director of the film. “We want to achieve with the film that the students themselves form a picture of the problem.”
After the film, the students will have a conversation with Mohamad Abdul Rahim. He fled to the Netherlands six years ago and tells the students his life story. In this way, the makers of the teaching package hope to make an even greater impact on the students. “I also think that the added value of the film is that you don’t just see it on screen, but that it can also come to you,” says Hellenthal. “That’s why we chose to let him start the conversation with students.”
Watch the video below about the screening of the film Zayn in the Nieuwe Kolk in Assen, text continues below the video: