The work does not end in Lesvos.
Upon returning to USC, my team – composed of Michael, myself, Rhys, Abby, and Mia – had to make sure that we were all on the same page so that we could collaborate effectively moving forward. We spent a good deal of time just debriefing and talking about our experiences in the refugee camps and on the island. This exercise continued in the VREI classroom, where the entire group of 13 students opened a Q/A so that the rest of the cohort understood the big takeaways from the trip.
Moving forward, it was time to decide on two well-defined problems to guide our design process in the course. Our decision making process was simple and streamlined in the interest of time, because it was difficult for our group to meet multiple times during the week. As such, we all pitched problems that we thought were salient and specific. Upon doing this, I merged all of the problems we brainstormed onto a poll so that we could narrow our focus. My main criteria for selecting the problems were as follows:
- A real problem, not a sexy solution being fit to a problem. The top issues to be solved should be ones that were brought up by refugees in the camps.
- A problem that I was passionate about and could see myself working on beyond college.
- A problem that is scalable–one that is shared in camps across the world.
Each of us had unique criteria for the downselection process. After polling the entire group, which included global partners, we narrowed our focus to the following 2 problems:
- Electricity in the camp is limited to an 8 hour window, and because of this, refugees spend the entirety of their time in their containers when the power is on. As such, their activities are limited, which could be detrimental for physical and mental well being.
- There are minimal recreational activities which are present in camps. For people that are interested in remaining fit, or simply doing something outdoors, there isn’t that much to do. Again, this has significant implications for overall wellness.
We presented these problems to the class, and the feedback we received was quite helpful. The first point that we needed to address was that the problems were too broadly defined, in that there was an intersection of issues that composed the problem we presented. The second was the question of whether the solutions could be developed in camps worldwide. Even if a solution to lack of recreation could be generated, what is the likelihood that this solution was desirable in multiple locations?
We kept these criteria in mind for the upcoming week. Back to the drawing board for now.