In Myanmar’s 2014 census the Rohingya were not officially recognised as an ethnic group and found themselves to be under threat. Armed conflict between minority groups and the government’s military forces have gone on for decades in Myanmar, but it accelerated significantly in August 2017, causing the Rohingya’s to flee.  More than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees fled for their lives to Bangladesh from their homes in Myanmar (Burma). Unsafe for them to return, they remain in the largest refugee settlement in the world in temporary shelters with no hope in sight of returning home. 
 

   

“The most urgent emergency in the world.”

U.N’s High Commissioners for Refugees.
 

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Baby left beside her dead parents rescued after attack on village.



"My name is Hamid Sussin and I am 19 years old. I lost my best friend who was 18 years old and my brother when the fighting broke out. I remember it was at midnight the military came to kill us. We ran away into the forest with my family and my best friend to hide ourselves. They tried to shoot us and so we laid down in a rice field. When my friend looked up to see if they were gone they shot him in the forehead and I watched him die. In every situation I’m in I miss him. We used to be in school together. Wherever he would go, I would go.

Five days I continued into the forest. We would move from place to place to avoid the military. It was as we moved into another jungle that I saw my brother was lying dead with his wife. Later, we came across a village that was under attack. We hid for four hours watching it unfold. After they left we saw that there was a baby that was still alive but it was lying next to two dead parents. My Uncle and I went to get the baby. She was about 5 months old. We named her Rofiika. We took the baby and went with the rest of my family to the riverside. We waited two days for a boat and finally made it to Bangladesh.

I am continually rehearsing the situation that happened to me at night. I remember the persecution. Sometimes our family even gets sick when we think about the trauma of it. My heart was very shocked.

There is nothing fun to do here. I try to play somewhere but I cannot play freely. This is a foreign place. I keep thinking about the future. I have no way to continue my education here. What will I do in the future? Ideally I’d like to study more and help the Rohingya people. I also want justice for our people."