According to MSF, a refugee camp is one of the most confronting places on earth, but luckily most Australians will never witness the disease, starvation and inhumane living conditions that exist in such a place. "Refugee Camp in Your City brings the real life experiences of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) into our far removed modern world,” said MSF volunteer Margie Baclay.
“The responses from visitors varied a lot, with interest and surprise being the most frequent, both at how much can be done and some of the newer innovations available in the field,” said Tonia Marquardt, MSF experienced field worker and tour guide.
“Overall, the feedback was extremely positive with most people saying how impressed they were at how much they learnt from the display and tour."
Experienced field workers will guide 15 minute tours through the authentic camp, showing visitors refugee housing tents, a food distribution tent, water bladder and pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, nutrition tent, cholera treatment centre, and a landmines education area.
Article continues below…Guides will share their experiences working in refugee camps, including the vulnerability of displaced persons, food distribution, water treatment and toilet construction to prevent epidemic, and the monitoring of refugee health. They will discuss the dangers and insecurities that are commonplace in camps, and the effects of displacement on mental health.
Logisitics expert Damien Moloney recently returned from the largest refugee site in the world, Dadaab, Kenya which is home to 285,000 people.
“Dadaab is a desert. There’s no water, there’s very little food and there’s no shelter. Most people live under plastic sheeting and live on three or four litres of water a day, including drinking and washing water, in 50 degree heat. The place feels Godforsaken,” Moloney said.
Tours will run each day, every 15 minutes from 9am-5pm and will last 45 to 60 minutes.
Ninety Australian doctors, nurses, midwives, logistics experts, accountants, psychologists and all manner of other professional roles currently dedicate their time to Médecins Sans Frontières – an international medical humanitarian organisation that assists victims of armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters.


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