Exhibit gives glimpse inside refugee camp
In hopes of providing a realistic view of a refugee camp, Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) is bringing an outdoor exhibit to Nashville's Centennial Park from Oct. 4-8.
“A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City” will be a simulation of what a real camp is like.
“This is an educational and public awareness effort,” said Carol Etherington, M.S.N., past president for the board of directors of Doctors Without Borders USA and assistant professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt.
“Our intent is to increase understanding of what it is like for millions around the world to survive in the environment of a refugee camp.
“The best way we can do that is for people to go through the camp. The learning experience will be invaluable for people to understand that this is a very real, very big global problem,” said Etherington.
Tours of the exhibit are free and open to the public, but large groups are asked to schedule ahead of time at refugeecampgroups@msf.org.
Volunteer guides for the exhibit are former relief workers as well as refugees who have relocated to the Nashville area.
More than 1,500 people a day are expected to visit the camp. Nashville is the final leg of the tour that started in Manhattan in September, traveled to Brooklyn, then Atlanta.
A typical tour takes about one hour and is suitable for middle school-aged children through adults.
The exhibit will officially open after a 2:30 p.m. press conference on Oct. 4 with a welcoming from Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell.