Space in a Refugee Camp

While refugee camps offer a safe haven for thousands of people who otherwise would have nowhere to go, there are some major problems with them. One serious issue becomes space, in  warm climate the recommenced space per person in three and a half meters. Think about that, three and a half meters in which you have to live. Three and a half meters to cook, sleep, and attempt to live your life as normally as possible. However in an emergency situation much larger groups of people can be crammed into a space roughly this size. When it comes to personal space, there is virtually none in a refugee camp. While your space is technically your own, some people even build their own shelters, everything is public. 

Personal space is not something known in the world of refugee camps. The main type of living environment is a tent, in which you may or may not have a stove to cook on. The stove depends on the type of environment, in a warm climate the stove is likely to be outside. In fact, consider yourself lucky if your stove it outside, because then you have roughly four to four and a half meters of space to live in. Imagine that, a bonus for an outdoor stove, an extra meter of space. It sounds ridiculous but in an area where the minimum space between two shelters is supposed to be two meters, this is a lot.

While refugee camps provide a needed place for prosecuted people to flee to, the conditions, in terms of space, in which they live is incredibly difficult. 

"CBC News In Depth: Anatomy of a refugee camp." CBC.ca - Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. 06 May 2009 .