The “Forced From Home" exhibition at the National Mall depicts what life is like for more than 65 million displaced people around the world.
Ahmed Abdalrazag, a physician, discusses his experience as a refugee in Tunisia and his decision to join Doctors Without Borders. He is a tour guide for Forced From Home, which will be on view at the National Monument through Oct. 9, 2016.
(WTOP/Allison Keyes)
WTOP/Allison Keyes
The Forced from Home exhibit will be on view at the National Mall through Oct. 9, 2016. The exhibit offers a glimpse into the lives of the millions of refugees around the world.
(WTOP/Allison Keyes)
WTOP/Allison Keyes
Visitors to the National Mall tour the Forced from Home Exhibit on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016.
(WTOP/Allison Keyes)
WTOP/Allison Keyes
The Forced from Home exhibit is meant to build awareness about the global refugee crisis, not to make a political statement, according to John Lawrence, board of directors president for Doctors Without Borders.
(WTOP/Allison Keyes)
WTOP/Allison Keyes
Visitors watch an immersive, 360-degree film highlighting displacement contexts in Greece, Lebanon, Mexico, South Sudan and Tanzania.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
The Forced from Home exhibit was also featured in New York, which is shown here. The exhibit will be on view in D.C. through Oct. 9, 2016.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
The “Forced From Home” is a travelling exhibit that will be featured in D.C. Oct. 1 through Oct. 9, 2016. The exhibit focuses on the crises in Afghanistan, Burundi, Honduras, South Sudan and Syria in order to educate visitors on the reasons why people leave their homes. Visitors at the New York exhibit are shown here.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
What would you bring? Visitors to the exhibit in New York have only minutes to choose what belongings they’d bring if they were forced from home. In 2015, 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes around the world.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
According to United Nations refugee agency, more than one million people made the treacherous passage to Europe by sea in 2015.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
Guests of the exhibit in New York receive a passport upon arrival that will determine their journey throughout the exhibit. At the legal status station, visitors learn about the distinctions between refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
Water is essential in refugee settings. According to the World Health Organization, the minimum emergency threshold for water per person, per day is two gallons. The average American uses about seventeen gallons per day.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
Dolls made out of plastic bags on display at Forced From Home exhibit, whichwill be on view in D.C. through Oct. 9. Children living in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania make toys out of whatever materials are available. According to U.N. refugee agency, nearly 50 percent of the refugee population in 2015 were children younger than 18.
(Elias Williams)
Elias Williams
Visitors can watch original virtual reality documentaries produced by Doctors Without Borders that tell individual patient stories from Tanzania, Mexico and Iraq.
(Elias Williams)
WASHINGTON — Tanya Brice wandered toward the back of a group touring the “Forced From Home” exhibition with tears in her eyes.
Brice said she’s aware of the humanitarian work done by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders and said she was horrified that there are people in the United States who want to keep some of the millions affected by the global refugee crises off of American soil.
“This is not a political pawn thing, this is a real thing,” said Brice, who’s from Columbia, South Carolina. “It is clear we have allowed humanity to be lost in the name of politics. This is a reminder that we need to fight for human rights.”
The “this” Brice was referring to was the nearly 10,000 square-foot exhibition at the National Mall that takes visitors on a tour, led by actual aid workers, depicting what life is like for more than 65 million displaced people. That number includes refugees who fled persecution and war, people who were forced from their homes inside of their nations, and those seeking asylum in another country.
“Forced From Home” will be in D.C. through Oct. 9.
People who visit the exhibition on 14th Street, across from the Washington Monument, can go through the tour and consider the reasons people flee, how they manage medical issues, and the housing and legal challenges facing displaced people around the world.
Dr. Africa Stewart, an OB-GYN, recalled her introduction to Sudan in 2011. Almost immediately upon her arrival from the U.S., Stewart had to tell a family that the baby they were expecting would not survive. The pregnant mother, father and their children had walked for at least two days. They had been forced to leave the land where they had buried another child, knowing they would never be able to return.
“They were smiling,” said Stewart, with tears rolling down here face. “It never occurred to me that the ability to deliver a child and bury it in free soil would be joyful. … The war they had endured for 50 years was over and their … children could be free.”
The exhibition is meant to build awareness, not to make a political statement, according to John Lawrence, board of directors president for MSF, the abbreviation for the French name of the group, Medecins sans frontiers.
“We want people to see what we experience,” Lawrence said. “When you meet people on the move they become individuals with stories that deserve our compassion.”
Visitors begin the tour with a 360-degree video that brings them up close and personal with families and aid workers in refugee camps. They have a chance to choose what personal belongings they would take if they were forced to flee, visit medical tents and see what those displaced deal with there, as well as peruse conditions in refugee camps. They also have the chance to find ways to get involved.
Stewart said she is always we recruiting so that people can “use their gifts and talents to make things better for someone else.”
