This article on the nature of refugee camps is the third and last article, which emphasizes the efforts of the international organization Doctors Without Borders / MÃÃdecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
What would you do if an armed conflict suddenly broke out around your city or in your area? Where would you go, what would you take with you, and how would you find a supply of food or water? For those of us who are in the developed world, it is difficult to imagine that this will ever happen, and if this happened, we would most likely jump into our car and move to a friend or relative.
But what if you live in a remote area of the developing world and you didn’t have a car or a safe place? This dilemma is common in many parts of the world. In fact, there are 42 million people on this planet who were forced to search for refugees, and often they have to complete a long journey to find a refugee camp that will provide them with food, water, shelter and vital medical care.
Before arriving at such a camp, they may have slept in abandoned buildings or old railway cars on the way without any bedding, looking for food and water, constantly worrying that they might again encounter hostile forces and be forced to flee again.
These internally displaced persons, or IDPs (26 million) and refugees (16 million), are mainly located in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and South America. (The exhibition included Sudan, Colombia, Iraq, DRC, Uganda, Somalia for IDPs and Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Sudan and Palestinian territories for refugees)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is responsible for ensuring that the rights of refugees are respected, including:
- The right to seek asylum;
- Right to protection from violence or involuntary repatriation
- The right to receive assistance (food, water, housing, medical care);
- The right to a lasting decision whether to return home when it is safe, to stay in a refugee country or to move to a third country.
But despite the fact that 147 countries signed 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees Millions still continue to face barriers and discrimination in the exercise of these fundamental rights. The plan of the Internally Displaced Persons remains insignificant, since there is no official international agency with authority to protect them. It should also be noted that three-quarters of them are women and children.
With the exception of volunteers from NGOs that serve the needs of these people, few have experienced refugee planning, except from afar; an image of a dirt road filled with a long stream of refugees carrying several things they left behind, wrapped in a sheet or folded in a basket; a short video of the straw hut of the city on the evening news.
Since so few of us have ever been on such a trip or had to live in one of these thatched huts, MSF created a new program called Refugee camp in the heart of the city I had the honor of visiting this project when he arrived in San Diego and in the process got a much better understanding of such living conditions.
Located outside on the lawn in Balboa Park, the camp was established as a series of stations that demonstrated the diversity of facilities and procedures that can be encountered while living in such a refugee camp. Excursions were conducted every 15 minutes, each station provided a very real idea of what your life would be.
Your new home
Living conditions in the refugee camp are at least rare. Using locally available materials, living quarters are identified, which often accommodate the whole family in a space intended for two. Cloth, straw, wood or cardboard can be used for building construction, with plastic sheeting tied over the roof to prevent rain.
Without the luxury of heating or air conditioning, refugees must stop extreme temperatures, as well as complete privacy, furniture, or any comforts of home.
Pure water
Providing clean water is an important issue for cooking, drinking and hygiene. While most people in the United States will use more than 100 gallons of water per day, as a refugee this amount can be reduced to 1 gallon per person per day and up to 5 gallons per person per day. While a person’s need for water depends on conditions and temperatures, you can die in just 3-5 days without enough water to drink.
Derived from wells, rivers, streams and lakes, this water must often be purified before it can be drunk. And since water must be at a safe distance from where people live for reasons related to sanitation, refugees usually need water in plastic jugs and carry them back to their hut, about 300 yards (and in some cases much more than it!) away, a daunting task for women or children.
Food to eat
Most of the refugees were self-sufficient in their cities or villages, raising animals or growing crops to provide food for their families, but, as often happens, their home may have been destroyed, their crops burned, and animals killed or stolen. the time of the fighting. If they could bring any food with them, that would not be enough to last for a very long time.
Government agencies, the United Nations or non-governmental agencies will try to supply food during a crisis, but immediate delivery is not guaranteed. In some cases, food supplies are stolen by rebel forces for their own use. When help arrives, handouts are distributed to food items that provide refugees with a ration of grain, beans or lentils, vegetable oil, and possibly salt and sugar.
Sometimes stoves are served, or cooking can take place in pots sitting on rocks with burning forest fires. In such situations, firewood should be collected daily. This practice brings with it another threat as children may be abducted and women raped if they are too far removed from the defense of the camp.
Proper sanitation
Until the camp is properly established, the “bathrooms” can consist of a street, behind bushes or in an open area. As soon as possible, MSF will build hygienic toilets with proper waste disposal methods to prevent the spread of the disease. As dysentery and cholera spread rapidly, latrines should be kept away from all sources of drinking water. The ideal situation is to provide one restroom for 10 people, but this ratio can sometimes vary from 20 to 200 people per object.
Diseases and treatment
Even in the best of circumstances, when adequate conditions are created and people follow the procedures, there is the possibility of contracting a waterborne disease, such as hepatitis E or intestinal worms. In certain areas, cholera is also endemic, and medical teams must respond quickly to stop the spread.
Depending on the country and the specific nature of the population, MSF staff determine which medical supplies are necessary to treat a variety of ailments. MSF has basic medicines and kits for treating underlying medical problems. If there is an outbreak of the disease, MSF may require a set of cholera or create additional tents, etc. The prevalence of the disease is aggravated by the lack of proper nutrition and strong stress, which serves to weaken the immune system. Cholera, malaria, respiratory infections, acute diarrhea and measles are the most problematic and can quickly spread in overcrowded conditions.
Health issues also include mental problems. Those who are caught in the middle of fierce fighting may have nightmares or suffer from stressful problems. Many had relatives or close friends, killed or wounded. One or more of their children may have been abducted, and rape is a tragic problem of serious proportions for both women and young girls.
Time to go home
How long will the refugees stay in such a camp? The answer varies widely, but it usually takes many months to stabilize the conflict zone to such an extent that people can return to their villages or cities. To accommodate one extreme example, 2 million Afghans fled to Iran and Pakistan after the US invasion, some of whom have been there for over 5 years.
Imagine that you live in such conditions, how would you cope with such a terrible situation?
