Let's be game changers | Cristian Sánchez and Andrea Rueda | TEDxCuestadelBailío

At this very moment, millions of people are finding themselves in need of leaving it all behind and starting over. But re-inventing oneself is not easy when one has so many limitations, such as living in a Greek refugee camp. What part can we play in all this? We can help the little ones in these difficult circumstances.

Cristian Sánchez is an environmental science student. Andrea Rueda is a humanities, translation and interpretation student.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Cristian Sánchez: Remember
when we were children?

We had fun playing simple games

like hide-and-seek and tag.

Everything was so simple, right?

Our only concern

was to keep ourselves entertained,
to keep ourselves busy.

And if there was nothing to do,
it didn't matter

because with just a piece
of paper and a pencil,

thanks to our boundless imagination,

we were capable of turning ourselves into
a sidekick of our favourite superhero

or even better, into the hero himself.

But of course,
not every child in the world

has these opportunities.

Where we see shooting stars,

they pray to be one of them.

In this case, we are referring to
the Middle East,

where these children
have to live in a war alien to them.

If they are lucky and their family
has the necessary resources,

they can leave the country.

But what if their family
doesn't have the means to do that?

They only have two options.

The first one is to wait
for the war to end,

if they survive it.

The second option they have
is for a terrorist group to kidnap them,

indoctrinate them, train them,

and send them to the front
at the age of 15.

Andrea Rueda: But when they finally
make it to Europe,

their situation is not exactly
filled with hope.

They find out that
for the foreseeable future,

they are stuck in a fenced camp
away from the city,

with no possibility
of either leisure or work,

and where their basic needs
are miraculously covered.

We visited the camps in and around Athens
in order to assess their situation.

We have met a lot of children
living in these bleak conditions.

And we want to show you some of the cases
we consider most significant.

The first one is Firas, this child.

Firas left Syria at the age of nine.

He and his family
threw themselves into the sea.

He travelled by sea
via Turkey and Macedonia

over a period of three years,
until the age of 12

when he got to settle in Athens.

But Firas doesn't know how to write,

because he spent the fundamental
years of his education

moving from one place to another.

Firas wants to make friends

because he hasn't had
a group of friends either,

for the same reason.

When we arrived,

the first thing Firas did
was to approach us and say,

'Come play with me. I want friends.'

And he immediately took us
towards the other kids

who were also there,
in the Port of Piraeus.

This helped us a lot
in approaching the others

and creating an emotional bond with them.

Firas was always eager to learn.

He always wanted to play board games
and wanted to learn how to play cards.

He was such a charming child.

We enjoyed spending time with his family.

He always offered us coffee,
tea, dinner at his place.

All because he loved to have friends
and to gather them with his family,

that was his most important bond
and actually the only one he had there.

Another very special case
was Neka, this little girl.

Neka is Afghan, she is nine years old,

and the most precocious girl in the world.

Neka loved to make necklaces and bracelets
and to give them away

so everyone could look
as lovely as she did.

Neka had two important wishes:

one was to go to Germany,
just like everyone there,

and the other one was to sleep in a hotel

because for months, she was sleeping
in a camping tent at the port

along with her family.

The last time I saw Neka

was the day I got to the port,
and her dad said to me,

'We got our passports back;
we are being deported.

We didn't get asylum, so we need
to return to Afghanistan.'

Devastated, I approached Neka, hugged her,

and she said to me happily,
'Will you visit me when I get to Germany?'

I felt incredibly sad.

Neka had a younger sister too.

She was two years old,

so she had been born during their journey
from one place to another,

and she's one of the few girls
that I've ever seen

who never laughs or plays.

She was always sick.

She always had a fever,
she was always crying -

a two-year-old girl.

Cristian Sánchez: The children were not
just looking for us during game time,

but also when we were
performing our duties,

such as food distribution, cleaning work,

or like in this case, when we
were building a vegetable garden.

They used to run like crazy
asking if they could do something to help

because they saw us in the camp,

helping them tirelessly day and night,

so they felt the need to help us

so they could feel useful
by helping us in our work in return.

Because, imagine what it must be like
to live for months in a fenced field,

completely isolated,
and having nothing to do.

Naturally, they can go out.

If they're lucky, the nearest town
is 31 miles away.

But playing was not everything

and helping us in our work
was not everything either.

There were children whose father,
for one reason or another,

was not there with them.

Those children had to help
their mother and siblings

in the daily housework:

chores like queuing up
at food distribution points,

queuing up to do the laundry,

being at the nappy
and baby food distributions,

milk distribution when there was milk.

And yet, there is something worse:

the cases where they don't have
a mother, a father, or siblings,

so they have no family
to take care of them and protect them.

There is the case of Abdul Haid.

Unfortunately, we don't have
an actual photo of him,

but we think this photo
is very representative.

Abdul Haid is a 16-year-old boy

who spent most of his time
alone in his tent,

either listening to music

or when he had the chance,
talking with his family on the phone.

The few moments he got out
of his tent to meet us,

he greeted us with a hug
every single time.

He was obviously affectionate
and needed to receive it also.

While he was talking to us,
he never let go of our hands.

And I believe that he looked upon us,
not quite as a father figure,

because he already had a father,

but he saw us as his protectors.

All this is the reason
why we are here today.

Because when someone
has been out there and back,

their reality, the way they face problems,
the way they see life in general

change completely.

We left friends there.

We have left behind people
who shared moments with us,

both good and bad.

And you can't relax
when you return from there,

because you feel the need to be with them

even though, sadly, we don't have
the resources or the capacity

to resolve their problems,

but we can stand by them, helping them
through these difficult times.

For all these reasons,
we came up with this initiative.

It consists of giving a toy

to every defenceless child out there
in the toughest refugee camps.

Andrea Rueda: We are talking
about 'Let's Be Game Changers',

developed in Athens.

One day, Cristian said,
'I want to return here on Christmas Day

so we can give them toys
and make them happy for once.'

And I said, 'I'll help you.'

With the help of others, we started
a project to make this happen.

We organise cultural events
with elements from the local culture,

from the different cities
in which we work.

We are doing concerts,
improvisation theatre plays,

poetry readings.

The money we collect
will be taken there and used to buy toys

to help restore hope for these children.

They can have the joy of receiving a gift,
something that belongs to them,

for them to play with by themselves
or to share with other children

so that they can get back
some of the childhood they have lost.

You may wonder why we
don't collect toys instead of money.

And the answer is very simple.

If we collect all the toys
and have to transport them

all the way out there,

we will end up spending
a lot of money on freight

because it's so expensive.

It's much easier to take the money there
and spend it there, making a big saving.

We must also keep in mind

that things over there
are not perfectly organised,

because it's so difficult.

New people arrive, others leave,
and numbers fluctuate.

New children may arrive

and depending on their age and gender,

we want to buy the appropriate toys
for them, not get random toys.

So, that is why.

We must also keep in mind the possibility
that by the time we get there,

the need for toys
may have already been covered.

For example, a truck full of toys
may have arrived the day before.

So, we won't deliver more toys
as that doesn't make sense.

We'd have to take them to another camp

and distribute them according
to that camp's population.

Cristian Sánchez: We know there is a lack
of things more important than toys.

For example, lack of food and health care.

Also, as you know, there are many NGOs,
organisations, and associations

who are committed to raising funds
and sending them there,

where the NGO field operators
distribute food and medicine.

We wanted to do something different,
focusing on the children,

because we know that a toy
can bring joy to a child's life.

It can restore the love for games

and help distract the child
from its everyday reality.

It can also help the child
make new friends through play.

We want children to go back
to being children, like this.

If we stop ignoring the situation
and accept what we see around us,

we could be that shooting star
we were talking about before,

bringing a glimmer of hope

to all the children
who lost their happiness long ago.

To help them to continue
being the children they are,

let's be game changers.

Thank you so much for your attention.

(Applause)