Rohingya Muslims face difficult Ramzan in refugee camps
COX’SBAZAR: The 12-year-old Rohingya refugee dreamed of Ramadan back in his own village — fish to break the day’s fast, gifts from his family and relaxing beneath the trees before evening prayers at the mosque.
But for MD Hashim and others like him living in squalor in Bangladesh, the start of the Islamic holy month now serves as a bitter reminder of everything they have lost since being driven from Myanmar by the army.
“Here, we can’t afford gifts and don’t have good food ... because this is not our country,” Hashim said.
The UN has described the army purge against the persecuted minority as ethnic cleansing, and thousands of Rohingya were believed to have been slaughtered in the pogrom.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled the violence for Bangladesh, where they squat in bamboo and tarpaulin shacks on dirt slopes.
While they acknowledge that they were lucky to escape, now, with food and money scarce and temperatures soar- ing, Ramadan looms as a source of anxiety for many Rohingya.
The Rohingya are barred from working and more than two dozen military checkpoints restrict them from leaving what has grown into the world’s largest refugee camp.
But despite the hardship the Rohingya would not abandon their traditions, no matter how challenging their circumstances, said imam Muhammad Yusuf.
“It will be difficult while the sun is so hot, but we will still fast,” Yusuf said.