As the Trump administration plans to reduce the number of refugees entering the country, Doctors Without Borders wants to show you just what it's like to be driven out of your home, and forced to find a new place to live.
They've put together an interactive exhibit in Seattle called, "Forced From Home." It follows the journey of a refugee escaping conflict — from a tent hospital and finally to a host country.
Ebam Eyang Ebam is an emergency response doctor who's worked throughout West Africa. The exhibit looks just like one of the group's mobile emergency clinics.
“We try to show everyone what we do, like what the health center is usually like. And we take the opportunity to talk about activities like vaccination and nutrition screening,” Ebam said.
The exhibit also uses actual materials from refugee camps like boats, tents and backpacks. It's all to get you to think about just what a refugee experiences and "bring you closer to what the reality truly is."
"It’s easy to forget something when you hear it and when you read something. But when you do it, you see it, you feel it - it sticks," Ebam said. "I believe that when people leave here they’re going to continue to relate to whatever they’ve seen here because it doesn’t get any closer than this.”
Of the 65 million people displaced worldwide, the U.S. took in 97,000 refugees last year. Last week, President Trump announced plans to cap that number at 45,000 annually. That's the lowest number since 1980.
The "Forced From Home" exhibit is being presented for free at the South Lake Union Discovery Center through Sunday.
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[asset-images[{"caption": "Morningside Academy 8th-grade student Zeb Schultz lies on a mattress in a medical needs tent at the Forced From Home exhibit on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, at the South Lake Union Discovery Center in Seattle. ", "fid": "139660", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201710/MF_ForcedfromHome06.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer "}]]
[asset-images[{"caption": "Morningside Academy teacher Geoff Martin, left, points out an object in the tent shelter to 7th-grade student Aiden Kirkland-Ruddy, at the Forced From Home exhibit on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, at the South Lake Union Discovery Center in Seattle. ", "fid": "139662", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201710/MF_ForcedfromHome08.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer "}]]
