2009 © MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES / DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MSF) – CANADA
A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City
Imagine: You have three minutes to gather your family and flee.
You scramble to pull your children and belongings out the door. You walked for hours, days, asking yourself: Where will I find shelter? How will I feed my family? What if I get sick?
This is what people in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver were asked to do in September and October of 2008 when MSF brought to their city a travelling exhibit called A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City.
Over the course of 17 days, 15,000 visitors toured the reconstruction of a refugee camp, where MSF field workers shared first-hand knowledge of the living conditions of 42 million refugees and displaced people around the world. Among the visitors to the exhibit were more than 7,700 students.
It was “way more than I expected. I walked home with the field trip notice not wanting to come and left not wanting to leave,” wrote one Alberta student on a comment card after touring the camp.
The exhibit also allowed returned MSF field workers to share with Canadians their first-hand experiences working with MSF patients around the world, a unique opportunity for many attendees.
Share some of the experience by watching the tour video…