New Traveling Exhibit by Doctors Without Borders Aims to Help Us Understand the Lives of Refugees

There are 65.3 million people in the world who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is putting together a traveling interactive exhibit to help Americans step one foot into the lives of these people, who, with just one stroke of fate, could easily be us.

The exhibit is called "Forced From Home." It will feature materials from refugee camps and rescue missions, virtual reality documentaries about the refugee experience, and interviews with MSF volunteers who have dedicated their lives to helping displaced people.

"In my country, you can't live," said Pedro Gutiérrez, who fled with his three children from Honduras to Mexico. "That's why I escaped with my family, I was tired of so much violence. I was so afraid, afraid for my family, my children."

Gutiérrez is one of several refugees interviewed in documentaries featured in the exhibit.

"This exhibit will confront visitors with the impossible choices millions of people face every day as they run from horrific war, persecution, and economic deprivation," said Jason Cone, executive director for MSF-USA, in a press release. "Our objective is to provide some sense of what people experience as they cross treacherous seas, travel through dangerous migratory routes, and arrive at refugee camps."

The exhibit is coming to New York City in September. It comes to New York Hall of Science in Queens from Sept. 16 to 20 and Battery Park City Esplanade in Manhattan from Sept. 23 to 27. Then it will travel to Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

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