“A refugee’s story”

Several guest speakers came to school in the week of 14th of January. They told us about their experiences. Some told us about their jobs of saving endangered animals, some told us their experiences of fostering children, and many of those speeches were emotional. There was one which I really liked, Joy Haugen’s refugee story. In her speech on the  16th of January, she talked us through how she made her way from a refugee in South Sudan to now.

 

When Ms. Haugen was 6 years old, her relatives had to flee to Uganda, and a lot of people died during that long trip. As refugees, they lost their identities. Her original name wasn’t “Joy”. When she was in the refugee camps, the places were crowded, but the people were friendly, so she was able to locate her grandmother in a refugee camp. A few weeks later, they were sent to places where they could start their “new life” and grow their own food. She was very homesick because she couldn’t go back to see her mom and siblings because of the war. Her grandmother was always trying to make her feel happy by trying to encourage enthusiasm and optimism.

 

During that time, all resources were given by the UN, and there was no “proper job”. In the end, because her mother was fortunate to know friends at the UN, she was able to apply for asylum in the U.S. And she went to America to study in Grade 9. She still has family members in the refugee camp now.

 

“How this impacted their lives”

And this speech led me to think about a bigger issue, which is the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. They have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh due to the governmental oppression in Myanmar. According to Vox, this crisis is a textbook example of “ethnic cleansing”.

 

And in 1991, Myanmar’s government launched another campaign called “Operation Clean And Beautiful Nation”, which caused about 250,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. And recent reports also claim that Myanmar is laying landmines at the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop Rohingya from coming back.

 

According to UNICEF, there are more than 730,000 Rohingya have been driven into Bangladesh (as of January 2019). Over half of them are children. UNICEF is on the ground helping to deliver life-saving supplies and services for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. From January to December 2018, with partners, UNICEF helped the Government provide more than 1.2 million people over 1 year old with an oral cholera vaccine, and provide 380,000 people with access to safe drinking water.

 

Both Myanmar and Bangladesh did not provide them anything such as food and shelter. And the children who fled to Bangladesh don’t have any educational backgrounds, this is why they are “trapped” in a vicious cycle.

Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. (Photo taken by John Owens/VOA)

 

“The children’s vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy”

As for the vicious cycle, it looks like this: “Rohingya adults are poor because they weren’t accepted by the Myanmar community -> their children can’t afford education because of poverty -> when they grow up, they are still poor because of the lack of education -> their children can’t afford education… ”

 

Many children would rather not study because they felt like they have something more important to do other than spending the time studying, which is to help their family either to flee from home or to settle in the refugee camp. Also, they haven’t been educated properly about how knowledge can actually help them to step out of the refugee camp in the future.

 

According to the New York Times, Rajuma told the journalist that Myanmar government soldiers stormed into her village in August and burned down each house. They separated the men from the women and summarily executed the men. Then they raped the women. But before raping her, Rajuma said, the soldiers snatched her baby boy from her arms and threw him into a fire. The baby was screaming for her as he burned to death. This was a terrible experience for a mother, and for the child.

 

This account is very consistent with other accounts, and besides the physical conflict between the Myanmar government and the Rohingya Muslim, the children would also have some mental problems such as autism and nyctophobia if they stay in this “war-zone” every day for a long time. How can they study if this is the case?

 

To get the young Rohingya Muslims and their children out of this vicious cycle, we must help them by giving them the education they need. And we can do that by donating money to trusted organizations, which will spend that money to help to educate them, and the education will one day help them to get out of this cycle. According to UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency), only 1 percent of the refugees attended university compared to 34 percent globally. Education for those children doesn’t only bring them out of poverty because their potential contribution and knowledge (explanation: because education has the ability to make them able to read and potentially write, and those skills are needed for basic jobs, so education can bring them out of poverty). They also give the community aware of what is healthy and what is not, which can improve the community’s health in general. Therefore education to these Rohingya youth and children is extremely important as it will not only change their lives but many generations’ lives.

(Rohingya being aided by the International Rescue Committee)

“Myanmar.” International Rescue Committee (IRC), www.rescue.org/country/myanmar.

 

If you wish to become a donor, please visit this website, thank you very much for your donation which will go towards education for Rohingya refugee children and you help might get them out of this vicious cycle: https://bit.ly/2DDPIRc

 

MLA Works Cited:

“File:Kutupalong Refugee Camp (John Owens-VOA).Jpg.” WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kutupalong_Refugee_Camp_(John_Owens-VOA).jpg.

 

Gettleman, Jeffrey. “My Interview With a Rohingya Refugee: What Do You Say to a Woman Whose Baby Was Thrown Into a Fire?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/insider/my-interview-with-a-rohingya-refugee-what-do-you-say-to-a-woman-whose-baby-was-thrown-into-a-fire.html.

 

“Queen Rania Meets Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh.” International Rescue Committee (IRC), 23 Oct. 2017, www.rescue.org/slideshow/queen-rania-meets-rohingya-refugees-myanmar-bangladesh.

 

“Rohingya Crisis.” UNICEF, 26 Feb. 2019, www.unicef.org/emergencies/bangladesh_100945.html.

 

team, Their News. “88,000 Rohingya Refugees and Host Community Children to Get Education Aid.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 14 Nov. 2018, theirworld.org/news/school-aid-for-rohingya-refugee-children-education-cannot-wait.

 

Viskovich, Yanya. “Education Is Key for Refugees to Build Their Futures. Here’s How We Can Help Them Do That.” UNHCR, 20 Feb. 2018, www.unhcr.org/innovation/education-is-key-to-rebuilding-refugees-future-and-to-refugees-rebuilding-their-countrys-future-heres-how-we-could-help-them-do-that/.

Vox, director. The “Ethnic Cleansing” of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, Explained. YouTube, YouTube, 25 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=04axDDRVy_o.