On Friday, the lawn in front of Hart House suddenly became embroiled in intense political conflict. Over 150 people were displaced from their homes, nearly all of whom were Toronto students. Humanitarian aid workers were present to battle the lack of essential medicine and to attempt to remedy the dire living conditions.
If the last few sentences were startling, then the fifth annual mock Refugee Camp in the Heart of Campus, organized by Friends of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has achieved its goal. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the need for humanitarian aid in places such as refugee camps. Friends of MSF organized a daytime event for secondary students, and many U of T students gathered in the evening for a “night out for a cause.” The student refugees generated by the events were in no danger, but they were certainly prompted to reflect on the situations of those who are.
A majority of MSF’s work is focused on refugee camps. Health systems often collapse when conflicts arise — for example, the UN estimates that the conflict in Syria generated as many as two million refugees. MSF sends aid workers to give emergency aid and work to restore the health system. Friends of MSF works from campus to support those aims by promoting awareness and raising funds.
Trish Newport addressed the high school students during the day, and Dr. James Maskalyk shared stories and wisdom from his field experience with U of T students during the night out for a cause. Maskalyk said that the Mock Refugee Camp “[evokes] the spirit of why MSF exists, and that is to continue to create a space that is safe for people, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter how far away they happen to be from the University of Toronto. MSF … will continue to evolve and continue to find new ways to make the work that we do reach the world’s most vulnerable people. So to have the University of Toronto, and its students, and readers of this paper participate — however you happen to do that — it’s what keeps that idea living. And the more it can grow, the more it can impact all of us.”
As students walked to and from their Friday classes along the path that bisects the Hart House lawn, many of them paused to wonder why there were tents set up. Those who stopped to find out surely left with a more personal concept of current world issues, as well as look at science used to directly benefit people. This is a view of science that is refreshingly constructive in today’s technological climate — which at times can feel like a constant arms race. Ultimately, this is why Friends of MSF exists: to let people experience the situations that are beyond the reach of our eyes, but not of our influence.
The mock refugee camp is an important part of the work of Friends of MSF; to gain an insider perspective on the event, The Varsity spoke with Donald Wang, executive director of the U of T chapter of the organization:
The Varsity: The mock refugee camp is very important in raising awareness, but there’s still going to be this disconnect between us, living in Toronto and leading ordinary lives by North American standards, and people who are actually in refugee camps. What can be further done to bridge that gap?
Donald Wang: This year, we are doing a role-playing activity about TB medicine. Each group has five people, and each person has a different personal background. It could be a single mom earning money to support her two children, or there could be a young girl… all of them have TB. They try to determine who should receive the only available drug dose. For example, they could want to give it to the mom because she’s earning money to support her children, but at the same time there’s also a promising young student; you don’t want her to die that young. Hopefully, when they’re discussing these issues among themselves, they’re able to realize the complexity of the situation as well as the challenges that are actually faced by refugees daily with respect to drugs and other limited resources.
TV: Does the mock refugee camp, or do other opportunities from Friends of MSF, give concerned members of the public opportunities to respond directly to humanitarian crises?
DW: Yes, definitely. One example that comes to mind is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is a trade agreement that allows pharmaceutical companies to extend their patents overseas, which delays the onset of generic drugs. Primary pharmaceutical companies invest money to develop a drug for tuberculosis and HIV, and then they get an extended 10-year monopoly for that drug so that nobody else can generate revenue from its production. Later on, when the patent expires, the generic companies can make the same drug, but they sell it at a much cheaper price. MSF primarily uses generic drugs; they also do not accept donations from pharmaceutical companies.
If this treaty is signed, it’s going to be quite detrimental to humanitarian aid work, because the cost of pharmaceuticals is going to increase. That’s why they’re calling for a petition [to Prime Minister Harper]. Another important point is that President Obama is calling this treaty the blueprint for other international treaty agreements. If this gets passed, it sets a precedent for pharmaceutical companies to argue for extended patents. We’re planning for the entire Canadian Friends of MSF group to have a cooperation where we get people more aware of this treaty and get them to sign the petition. MSF is pushing this campaign for generic drugs to come faster so that they can be distributed to people.
TV: How does awareness of situations like refugee camps shape peoples’ experiences?
DW: As the mock refugee camp, we can only do so much to actually simulate the refugee experience, so we add a personal experience by inviting real MSF experts.
My favourite example is Trish [Newport]. She has been on five missions with MSF, and she always tells this really fascinating story: when she was working in a village in Congo, one night people heard the Lord’s Resistance Army coming. Everyone just packed little things and started running for two, three days straight. I remember Trish said that she asked one of the villagers, “Where do we stop and take a rest?” And the villager responded, saying, “When the Lord’s Resistance Army comes, you don’t rest. You just go, run as fast as possible.”
Initially, what I thought of a refugee camp is just that people are displaced from their homes; that’s all I read in the papers. The stories that [Trish Newport] told really added a personal dimension, and also demonstrated some of the psychological trauma that has been experienced. That makes this whole mock refugee camp much more personal.
We want to provide perspective for people. We’d like to present the facts and the experience to show that there is another perspective to refugee camps, and that there is the need for humanitarian aid. That’s one of the reasons we involve high school students, so they’re aware of it at a younger age. [With older people,] it’s difficult to change their minds – not because they don’t want to change their minds, but rather because they have a lot of experience, and this experience has shaped their personality and political views already.
The Varsity: The mock refugee camp is very important in raising awareness, but there’s still going to be this disconnect between us, living in Toronto and leading ordinary lives by North American standards, and people who are actually in refugee camps. What can be further done to bridge that gap?
DW: This year, we are doing a role-playing activity about TB medicine. Each group has five people, and each person has a different personal background. It could be a single mom earning money to support her two children, or there could be a young girl… all of them have TB. They try to determine who should receive the only available drug dose. For example, they could want to give it to the mom because she’s earning money to support her children, but at the same time there’s also a promising young student; you don’t want her to die that young. Hopefully, when they’re discussing these issues among themselves, they’re able to realize the complexity of the situation as well as the challenges that are actually faced by refugees daily with respect to drugs and other limited resources.
TV: Does the mock refugee camp, or do other opportunities from Friends of MSF, give concerned members of the public opportunities to respond directly to humanitarian crises?
DW: Yes, definitely. One example that comes to mind is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is a trade agreement that allows pharmaceutical companies to extend their patents overseas, which delays the onset of generic drugs. Primary pharmaceutical companies invest money to develop a drug for tuberculosis and HIV, and then they get an extended 10-year monopoly for that drug so that nobody else can generate revenue from its production. Later on, when the patent expires, the generic companies can make the same drug, but they sell it at a much cheaper price. MSF primarily uses generic drugs; they also do not accept donations from pharmaceutical companies.
If this treaty is signed, it’s going to be quite detrimental to humanitarian aid work, because the cost of pharmaceuticals is going to increase. That’s why they’re calling for a petition [to Prime Minister Harper]. Another important point is that President Obama is calling this treaty the blueprint for other international treaty agreements. If this gets passed, it sets a precedent for pharmaceutical companies to argue for extended patents. We’re planning for the entire Canadian Friends of MSF group to have a cooperation where we get people more aware of this treaty and get them to sign the petition. MSF is pushing this campaign for generic drugs to come faster so that they can be distributed to people.
TV: How does awareness of situations like refugee camps shape peoples’ experiences?
DW: As the mock refugee camp, we can only do so much to actually simulate the refugee experience, so we add a personal experience by inviting real MSF experts.
My favourite example is Trish [Newport]. She has been on five missions with MSF, and she always tells this really fascinating story: when she was working in a village in Congo, one night people heard the Lord’s Resistance Army coming. Everyone just packed little things and started running for two, three days straight. I remember Trish said that she asked one of the villagers, “Where do we stop and take a rest?” And the villager responded, saying, “When the Lord’s Resistance Army comes, you don’t rest. You just go, run as fast as possible.”
Initially, what I thought of a refugee camp is just that people are displaced from their homes; that’s all I read in the papers. The stories that [Trish Newport] told really added a personal dimension, and also demonstrated some of the psychological trauma that has been experienced. That makes this whole mock refugee camp much more personal.
We want to provide perspective for people. We’d like to present the facts and the experience to show that there is another perspective to refugee camps, and that there is the need for humanitarian aid. That’s one of the reasons we involve high school students, so they’re aware of it at a younger age. [With older people,] it’s difficult to change their minds – not because they don’t want to change their minds, but rather because they have a lot of experience, and this experience has shaped their personality and political views already.
