‘This is hell on Earth’
Words can’t describe the scene when I first enter the informal camps that have sprung up in Cox’s Bazar, along the Bangladesh-Burma border.
Much like the 500,000 Rohingya who have left Burma’s northern Rakhine state in the past month, I trudge through calf-deep mud in torrential rain through swampy, flooded streets. The stench is overwhelming, a pungent combination of feces and garbage that permeates the air. With a severe lack of latrines, it’s immediately clear that open defecation is the norm. These are the conditions in which we have to deliver life-saving aid.
There is not enough food, clean water or shelter. Thousands of Rohingya are acutely hungry, sick and without protection from the elements as the rains pour down. Many children are visibly alone and malnourished. This is hell on Earth.
And yet, the conditions are better than across the border. At least those I speak to are alive. Down the road in Burma, villages are visibly burning, corroborating accounts from terrified children and families sharing their stories with me. Stories of looting, burnings, shootings, machete wounds, beheadings and rape are common. Nearly everyone I speak to has lost a spouse, a parent or a child.
What strikes me most are the children. They are silent and suspicious. They are not children we see most commonly back in Canada — playful, hopeful and quick to rebound. They are survivors of the worst atrocities imaginable and their silence is their scar.
I spoke with one woman, Fatima, who tells me her house was set on fire as she witnessed two of her sons dragged to the street and shot. She jumped through a window to escape with her youngest son Mohamed, breaking her arm as they ran to the border. They walked for 13 days, carrying only the clothes on their backs. Her husband remains behind, unable to cross the border — the ones who try are shot, or blown up by landmines, she says. She asks me to tell the world her story, because Mohamed can’t. Like the others, he no longer speaks.
The suffering on both sides of the border is why we have to act, and act fast. Without urgent relief to the Rohingya, we risk not only a public-health crisis in camps, but the loss of an entire generation of children to unimaginable desperation. Of the more than 500,000 people who have fled across the border in the past month, 60 per cent are children, leaving up to 300,000 without shelter, food, water, or safe places to play or learn.
While my colleagues and I are working around the clock to respond to the huge needs, we can’t do this work alone. With more desperate people coming across the border daily, we are now tasked with the monumental effort of constructing and servicing the equivalent of a mediumsized city from scratch.
While the Bangladeshi government must be commended for opening their borders and partnering with organizations on the ground, it is clear this must be an international effort.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi has called this the worst displacement crisis in the world and recent reports indicate that more than $200 million is needed to respond. Canada’s recent $3.55-million contributions are welcome, as is the inclusion of dedicated funding to meet the needs of children.
But as desperation mounts for those living in extreme conditions, it is clear that Canada must do more. As a Canadian aid worker, I am deeply proud of our response to refugee crises, including the way Canada has stepped up to resettle Syrian refugees.
Canada now needs to step up for Rohingya as well. As a Canadian witnessing this crisis unfold in front of me, it was welcome to see the attention given to the issue by Parliamentarians of all political stripes last week in Ottawa during the emergency debate. Even more welcome was the focus on what next steps Canada can take.
In Burma, there are still thousands of Rohingya hiding in forests, mountains and in burnt remains of villages. Canada has rightly been calling for unhindered humanitarian access to northern Rakhine State so people like these can be reached with urgently needed aid. We also need access for the UN Fact Finding Mission so they can assess what has happened.
With the massive need confronting me daily on the Bangladesh side, one crucial next step must be acted on. If our government truly wants to be a leader in stepping up for those in need, the most impactful, immediate option is to increase humanitarian assistance.
Like other donors who have significantly upped their contributions in recent weeks, Canada must urgently increase assistance to the many thousands who have already endured unimaginable suffering.
The lives and futures of children and families may depend on it.
The Bangladeshi government must be commended for opening their borders, but it is clear this must be an international effort
Kyle Degraw is a humanitarian manager with Save the Children. He is currently responding to the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh.