MSF launches anti-xenophobia video campaign in S. Africa

Doctors without Borders (MSF) on Thursday launched an anti-xenophobia video campaign in Johannesburg ahead of Africa Day which falls on May 25.

The campaign was launched eight weeks after the violent xenophobic attacks in parts of South Africa, in which at least seven people were killed and thousands of foreigners displaced.

The videos -- Voices from the Camps -- are a series of five powerful video testimonies from people who were displaced by the wave of xenophobic violence.

The move was designed to ensure that the displaced foreigners' stories are not forgotten and that South Africans learn more about life threatening challenges vulnerable foreign nationals face, MSF South Africa said in a press release.

Voices from the Camps shares testimonies of displaced people exposing trauma, daily xenophobia beyond the recent violence, the release said.

The violence was over but the impact of xenophobia is still a daily reality for fearful refugees, asylum seekers and survival migrants remaining in the last displacement camp, contemplating return to hostile communities despite their story disappearing from the headlines, said the release.

It said that by telling their stories in these videos, refugees, asylum seekers and survival migrants expose the harsh reality of life in South Africa: persistent xenophobia that leads to healthcare exclusion, a denial of protection and unpredictable violence from friends and neighbors.

"The kind of trauma we see in the camp is similar to what my MSF colleagues have witnessed in South Sudan and Central African Republic where people have been exposed to active conflicts. Our interviews with Chatsworth camp residents indicated they have suffered cumulative traumas," MSF psychologist Penni Cox said.

He was referring to the Chatsworth camp in Durban, the last shelter center housing displaced foreigners in South Africa.

The displaced foreigners also tell stories about the daily level of discrimination and alienation they experience – at hospitals, getting around in minibus taxis and from police elsewhere, said Cox.

With Africa Day ahead, MSF Southern Africa called on South Africans to help stop xenophobia and commit to solidarity for survival by sharing these videos to show compassion and an understanding borne from our common humanity. Endi