Refugee Camp in Central Park

Doctors Without Borders will be pitching a tent in Central Park this fall. There will be an 8,000 square foot exhibit that looks like a refugee camp placed in Cherry Hill (near Bethesda Fountain) to give an approximation of what's it's like to live in a refugee conditions after disasters. Here's what Doctors Without Borders says:

Guided by MSF aid workers, visitors to this outdoor educational exhibit are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in, for example, Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea, or Sudan.

An estimated 33 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes and live in temporary shelter, with nearly two-thirds of them displaced within their own countries. The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center. It addresses questions such as: Will I be safe? What will I eat? How do I find water? Can I get medical care? And where will I live?

The executive director of DWB tells the Post, "We're not taking over Central Park. This is not 'The Gates.'" The exhibit will run from Setpember 13 thorugh September 15, and from the looks of what DWB did during the last exhibit in 2000, there will be many talks about refugee crises, war and responsibility during September.

More: Doctors Without Border's Refugee Camp