USC students from the Health Sciences Campus received a strong dose of reality on Oct. 24 when they visited a simulated refugee camp in the heart of Griffith Park.

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) Governing Council, along with USC students from occupational therapy, public health, biochemistry and medicine visited "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City," an outdoor educational exhibit sponsored by Doctors Without Borders.

Students examined typical living quarters and tasted food normally distributed to the refugees at the campsites. After learning about water systems and rationing, the group examined facilities and instruments used to treat the sick, malnourished and mentally ill.

Surgeon George Record and nurse Michele Belletete, who spoke about their own personal experiences working at refugee camps in Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), led the tour.

"I thought this experience was very enlightening" said Roxanne Abrams, an occupational therapy master's degree student. "While I feel it's impossible to really know what's going on in countries suffering from war, poverty, hunger and famine, events like this provide a crack in the door and at least open our eyes to these unfortunate situations."

The most memorable part of this experience for the students was "observing the framed drawings and paintings created by the child refugees during war and disasters," said Sonya Soni, second-year public health master's student and GPSS community service chair. "The mature art pieces, which portrayed guns, death, poverty and war, reminded me how these disasters disallow children to experience their most important virtue of innocence."

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medicine humanitarian organization that delivers aid to people affected by war, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters or exclusion from health care in more than 60 countries.

MSF doctors, nurses, logistics experts, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians and mental health professionals provide assistance to people caught in crises around the world. Their services include providing medical attention, feeding malnourished children, constructing wells for clean drinking water and distributing shelter materials.

MSF is also commited to speaking out against the causes of suffering and to raising public awareness of the unfortunate situations in these countries.

"As future health care providers, not only do we have the power to help, but we have a responsibility to get the word out," Abrams said.