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Doctors Without Borders Displays Refugee Camp in New York City
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=646344&l=1009&ctl=1448642:A6F02AD83191E160D9382473492334789574F7DCC14957C0 Non-governmental
organization hopes  multi-city public education campaign will help
draw attention to its work and plight of people it helps





Makeshift refugee camp in Brooklyn, NYDoctors Without Borders, also
known as Medicines Sans Frontieres, or MSF, is taking its work on the
road - in the United States.  The non-governmental organization is
hoping a multi-city public education campaign will help draw attention
to its work and the plight of the people it helps.

The US Committee for Refugees says there are 33 million refugees in
the world.  More than 20 million are internally displaced people
seeking safety from conflict in their own countries.







Brett DavisThis human tragedy is a way of life that Doctors Without
Borders Project Coordinator Brett Davis experienced first-hand while
working in the Darfur region of Sudan. "I think it's really difficult
to try to explain it.  It's something that you really have to
experience to understand the hardship people go through."

And Doctors Without Borders is now attempting to recreate that
experience for people in the United States.

Here in the heart of Brooklyn, the rolling green fields of Prospect
Park are transformed into a makeshift refugee camp.

The exhibit is filled with actual items the organization uses in the
field.  The simple straw huts and plastic tarp tents stand in stark
contrast to the expensive apartment buildings just meters away. 

It is a way of life many of the thousands of people who wandered
through the exhibit have never experienced, or witnessed first-hand.







Nicholas de TorrenteThat's one of the goals of this campaign,
according to Doctors Without Borders U.S. Executive Director Nicholas
de Torrente.  Another goal is to draw the attention of visitors and
the media to what he calls lesser-known crises throughout the world
such as Colombia and Congo. "The media often doesn't pay attention to
these crises, these conflicts, and we call them neglected or under
reported, so I think that there is a big gap there in terms of media
coverage of what's happening in some of these areas."

Some familiar Hollywood faces are helping the effort to raise
awareness.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie made news with a $1 million
donation to Doctors Without Borders while the exhibit was on display
in New York.

"She gave us an unrestricted gift which basically allows us to do the
work, be true to humanitarian principles which is to go where the
needs are the greatest, to help people who are in the most difficult
conditions," explained de Torrente.  "That money doesn't have strings
attached."

While money and awareness go a long way in helping the organization
alleviate suffering, it doesn't solve all its problems.

Doctors Without Borders considers the security situation in Iraq too
great a risk for its staff.  In 2004, the group shut down operations
in the war torn country and has not been able to return.

The Doctors Without Borders "Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City"
plans to make stops in Atlanta and Nashville later this year.