The first thing that hits you are the sounds of normal, everyday life — children laughing, babies crying, mothers soothing. But life in a Rohingya refugee camp is anything but normal.
Today we met “Amira” and her family. Two months ago, they made their way to the “no man’s land” between Myanmar and Bangladesh, where they waited for two weeks before they could cross the river separating the two countries. They had no food, so Amira, her husband and their seven children ate leaves and grass to keep something in their bellies.
Amira was also eight months pregnant. Once in Bangladesh, they were provided with a shelter and some food — rice, lentils and oil. Shortly after arriving, 35-year-old Amira gave birth, unattended, on the dirt floor of her “home” to her eighth baby. When we met them today, a young son of about six years old, was sick with a fever and vomiting. There is no way to know if it is a “simple” fleeting illness or something more serious. We left them with electrolyte replacement powder and bottled water and wished we could do more. Not once did she or her husband smile.
Fleeing their homes in Myanmar to escape the genocide being wrought upon them, Amira and her family join more than 650,000 Rohyinga who have made their way to Bangladesh in the last five months. They are still coming and their stories are brutal. Rape, torture, beheadings, shootings — the stories of survivors are incredibly disturbing. When you look a little closer at the camps, you also realize that there aren’t many men. They were killed in Myanmar.
Once the Rohingya make it to Bangladesh, they are given vaccinations, some basic food and shelter. The shelters the Rohingya are stacked up the side of numerous hills, with “steps” cut out of the hard-packed dirt leading from the valley floor to various sections. The shelter, constructed with bamboo and sheets of plastic, houses one or two families and is maybe 8 feet by 12 feet. There is no running water, no electricity except for what is generated by a few solar panels scattered throughout the camps and the “toilets” are concrete circles that are replaced when they are filled with solid waste. When the rainy season comes, it is not hard to imagine those shelters sliding right off the side of those hills.
Bangladesh has given the Rohingya a place to stay, with conditions. The refugees are not allowed to work and not allowed to leave the camps. The big organizations are here — United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders and International Organization for Migration (IOM). Smaller ones are here too, like the one I am here with, Hope Worldwide Utah, and our sister agency from the United Kingdom, Amal Foundation, but more help is desperately needed.
In addition to the 650,000 who have crossed the border, an estimated 48,000 babies will be born in the camps this year, according to Save the Children. That is a mind-boggling number. Most will be born in their shelters which lack the most basic essentials like clean water and appropriate sanitation. Those babies will be more susceptible to diseases like measles, diphtheria and cholera and almost certainly, malnutrition.
Priton Kumar Chowdhury, a deputy director of the government’s social services department in Cox’s Bazar says “I can’t imagine it, and my brain does not actually know how to deal with this.” But ready or not, here they come.
Tomorrow, our little group will go help with ongoing water projects to dig productive wells. The day after that, we will distribute food to 100 families. One hundred, out of hundreds of thousands. We know it’s a tiny drop in a gigantic ocean, but as Mother Teresa said, “Without that drop, the ocean would be less.”
Holly Richardson
Holly Richardson, a Salt Lake Tribune columnist, has seen extreme poverty all over the world. These camps are the most extreme she has ever seen. She is in awe of the resiliency of the human spirit she has seen in the hills of Bangladesh.
