An outbreak of deadly cholera is expected at this year’s Glastonbury festival, caused not by the lack of toilets and sinks in the notoriously muddy Somerset farm, but by the international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders).
Glastonbury Festival-goers will be transported to the wreck and ruin of Haiti’s earthquake and the subsequent cholera* outbreak when the aid organisation introduces a new interactive venue.
The venue – fronted by a spectacular earthquake set complete with crumbling hospital – will transport the public to the streets of Haiti’s capital Port au Prince. Alongside live music, it will feature an emergency operating theatre converted from a shipping container, a photo exhibition and Haitian-inspired graffiti.
A cholera treatment centre, once used to treat the life-threatening illness in Haiti, will be transported to Glastonbury, kitted out like a real field hospital with chlorinated hand wash and rehydration drinks. But the real-life experience doesn’t stop there – visitors will be invited to lie on so-called ‘cholera beds’ and watch short films on iPads suspended above each bed that show MSF’s life-saving work around the world.
“MSF is excited at the opportunity to show Glastonbury-goers some of the important work MSF does in Haiti and elsewhere in the world. We are still working in Haiti, 18 months after the devastating earthquake, currently responding to a second cholera outbreak.” says Ruby Siddiqui, an MSF Epidemiologist.
‘MSF Live’ will be located in the Latin American themed area, ‘The Common’, and will feature acoustic performances from some of the UK’s finest artists including Ghostpoet, Ed Sheeran, Dizraeli and Joe Driscoll.
MSF frontline field staff, who have worked in Haiti and other emergencies, will be running the live exhibitions and providing audiences with a unique opportunity to ask questions about what it’s really like working in some of the most dangerous places around the world and engage with MSF’s work first-hand.
They, and many more like them, worked tirelessly after the earthquake of magnitude seven which virtually collapsed Haiti’s capital city, killing 222,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless.
Alongside treating injuries caused by the earthquake, MSF has treated 130,000 Haitians for cholera (43 percent of total cases). As soon as the first cases were confirmed in October 2010, MSF teams deployed to nine of Haiti’s 10 departments to support local health facilities.
MSF Live will run from Wednesday to Sunday and on Friday night, collaborating with Lyrix Organix to present a one off event called ‘Zona Bassline’.
The night will feature circus performers, video walls and favela stages alongside musicians from the realms of Hip Hop, Grime, Reggae/Dub, Dubstep, Latin and Beatboxing including chart-topping Example, beatbox supremo Shlomo and The Boxettes.
Never before seen by a charity in the UK, this piece of history will be streamed live online via www.lyrixorganix.com and www.facebook.com/msf.live.
Secret gigs will also be revealed over the course of the festival via Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/MSF_Live). This is a life-changing experience not to be missed!
ENDS
For photo opportunities or to interview MSF field staff, please call Pete Masters at Glastonbury on 07921781518 or Alice Klein in the MSF London office on 020 7067 4230 alice.klein@london.msf.org.
Notes to the editor:
Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent humanitarian medical aid organisation, committed to providing medical aid where it is most needed – regardless of race, religion, politics or gender.
Founded by doctors and journalists in 1971, MSF is now a worldwide movement with offices in 19 countries. For more information, please visit www.msf.org.uk
* Cholera causes profuse diarrhoea and vomiting, and infected people can die of profound dehydration, sometimes within a matter of hours. It often breaks out when there is overcrowding and inadequate access to clean water, rubbish collection, and proper latrines.
This situation can be especially problematic in rainy seasons when houses and latrines flood and contaminated water collects in stagnant pools. For more information, visit: /cholera.focus.
MSF has been working in partnership with Lyrix Organix for two years to expose its work to new demographics, producing numerous successful events for emergency appeals including Haiti, Chad, Somalia and Pakistan.
MSF will be hosting the two major venues, MSF Live and Zona Bassline, on a shoe-string budget and in collaboration with an incredible team of volunteering professionals – from MSF field doctors to production crew, to top graffiti artists.
MSF’s Glastonbury partners include: Land Rover, THTC (The Hemp Trading Company), London West Bank, Proper Productions, Global Motion.