It's either too hot or too cold. You are always fearful, always worried and always hungry. You are packed in with thousands of people. You are alone. There is nothing to do but wait. There is nothing to do today, and there won't be anything to do tomorrow.

And there is no escape.

These experiences are shared by people around the world: in the refugee camps of the Darfur region of Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Rwanda, in Syria, in Chechnya and in Somalia.

This is not make-believe, and, more importantly, it is impossible to experience without actually living a refugee's life and thinking a refugee's thoughts.

Yet, from the 4th to the 8th of October, the renowned group Doctors Without Borders decided to give Nashville residents a look inside a refugee camp. This "experience" was billed as an opportunity for comfortable American citizens to view what it would be like to live in absolute squalor and how Doctors Without Borders was helping.

Holly Johnson, director of Refugee and Immigration Services for Catholic Charities of Tennessee, spoke positively about the event.

"I think people, myself included, really have no idea what life is like for refugees, and this will give us a more complete picture," Johnson said.

No, it won't.

While their intentions were likely solid, "experiences" like this only serve to belittle the very cause these groups seek to promote. While these events spread needed information, their "mock" style is almost ride-like. It's neat, compact, exciting and fits into your day without causing too much trouble. You get your ticket, buckle in, "aware" yourself for 30 minutes to (gasp) an hour or so, and then you go about your day.

The key missing factor is that, while one sees the tents and eats the prepared meals, the experience lacks the time and mental factors that are at the heart of a refugee's peril. A refugee never knows when he or she will get to leave the camp or even eat, for that matter. They are always fearful and don't simply get to go back to the car when they are tired of the "experience."

In similar fashion to Habitat for Humanity's sleep-outs on Alumni Lawn, where students pretend to be homeless by watching a movie and making s'mores outside, and even the National Holocaust Memorial Museum (which has managed to turn one of the greatest human tragedies into a two-hour simulation-ride), this event only trivializes real events and real suffering by catering to the shallow need of many Americans to only support causes which they can feel and touch.

A refugee camp cannot be understood like static electricity at an interactive science museum. It involves the very essence of what humans on this planet must go through to survive another day. Raising money and awareness through films, photos, pamphlets and other means is critical and necessary, but this sort of self-serving "pretend" is far from it

David Fotouhi is a senior in the College of Arts & Science.