Coming to a City Near You: A Refugee Camp

In hopes of raising awareness about the reality of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, Sam writes every Monday about a key issue in an attempt to stop the atrocity. Doing so may not bring about a wave of change, but it is a small ripple that represents the tide that needs turning.

If you want to be a good global citizen, then mark your calendar (from Doctors Without Borders):

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 exhibit first appeared in the US in 2000, in New York, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, attracting almost 20,000 visitors.

Launched in France in 1995, A REFUGEE CAMP IN THE HEART OF THE CITY has since appeared in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Holland, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, and is scheduled to appear in Italy, and Hong Kong.

This exhibit will be in Nashville at Centennial Park on October 4-8, 2006.

Conditions will emulate what millions are currently facing in Darfur and other easily-ignored locales. But, at the end of your day, you'll return to your comforts. Many others cannot.

And, these are the type of events that will be listed on CoolPeopleCare. Get ready for the revolution. Sign up to receive an email when we go live real soon, and if you work for a nonprofit, we're happy to let the world know about you and your events.

Also posted on: Darfur Mondays, Darfur Be Damned