“With whom would you like to live in the same house?”

Prepare a drawing of a house on the (paper)board. The facilitator tells the story of family Miller:

“In this house live Mr. and Mrs. Miller with their 20 year old son David. The family lives quite happily together in this house. One day a bad accident happens and father and mother Miller loose their lifes. David inherits the house of his family and lives a single and satisfied life, untill one day David looses his job. David is no longer able to afford the live in the big house by himself. With his last money he decides to split the house into 6 appartments and puts them up “for rent” in the newspaper.”

Now, imagine you are David and that you have to choose five tenants from the list of people applying to your add, in order to be able to keep the house.

Task for the participants:
1. choose 5 tenants from the list – individually (approx. 20 min.)
2. in group of 5 to 6 persons choose 5 tenants that the whole group agrees on (approx. 20 min.)
3. debriefing:
– Has the group found 5 common tenants? Yes /No? Why (not)?
– How did the group work together to find those common tenants? What was difficult, what was easy?
– Discuss the reasons why you decided for these persons.

This exercise shows very well the impact of prejudices and different pre-conceptions we have about other people. To have no prejudices is almost impossible, the most important is to understand that these are prejudices and that discussions about differences and getting to know people better can change opinions.

Attention! The debriefing is the most important part of the exercise. Take care of the possible emotions in the group!

With whom would you like to live in the same house ?

1. A single mother with a 3 year old child whose father is Tunisian. He visits his son occasionally and sometimes bring along a few friends.
2. A Yugoslavian migrant workers family with 5 children between 1 and 12. Father works in steel industry, mother would take the position of the concierge.
3. A family with a 17 year old daughter attending 11th grade at a secondary school. Father is an accountant in a bank, mother is a teacher.
4. A single 70 year old lady living on minimal retirement payment.
5. A group of  7 polish refugees, all working in the kitchen of a large restaurant.
6. A group of 5 young people living an alternative life-style rejecting the materialistic ideology of consumption.
7. Three Palestinian students who are politically engaged.
8. A gypsy family of 5 persons. Father works occasionally and is unemployed in between times. They are a part of a larger family which has strong ties and likes to hold festivities.
9. An American couple without children. Husband is working at the International Atomic Energy Authority, wife is taking care of the household and 3 poodles.
10. Two artists, approx. 40 years old who live rather a bohemian and unconventional lifestyle and have many artist friends.
11. A girl studying piano and singing at the Conservatorium, who has to practice regularly in the afternoons.
12. A black American with his Austrian girlfriend. He is trying to get work permit as an engineer.
13. A religious Muslim family which lives strictly according to the Koran, the mother leaving the house only veiled.
14. A gay men who’s single, but invites a lot of man during the week in his apartment.
15. A young men, he’s wheelchair user and live with his 76 years old mother.
16. A girl, who is blind, she lives alone with her dog.