Rohingya refugees have only memories, saved on cellphones

Kutupalong, Bangladesh: Abdul Hasan can spend hours watching old videos he shot on his cellphone.

“My heart aches for my village, my home,” the 16- year- old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar said in a camp in neighbouring Bangladesh. “That’s why we have brought these memories, this video, from Myanmar.”

Since late August, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape attacks by Myanmar security forces. But before fleeing from advancing soldiers, few Rohingya had time to grab many of their belongings. Instead, they poured across the border into Bangladesh bringing with them little more than horror stories of marauding forces and memories of terrifying treks through the forests.

Their old lives — homes, cattle, villages, everything — are gone. All they have left is their memories.

But if they’re lucky, some of those memories are stored on the cellphones many refugees managed to bring with them.

It’s the closest Hasan gets to experiencing his old life and country. One video shows him having what he calls a “coconut party.” A song hailing the bravery of a Rohingya rebel leader plays in the background as Hasan and his friends eat coconuts, and laugh as they throw them at each other.

“When I watch this video, I think of my country, Myanmar. It really breaks my heart so much,” he said.

The government of Buddhist- majority Myanmar has refused to accept Rohingya as a minority group, even though some have lived in the country for generations.

In late August, attacks by Rohingya militants triggered a brutal and indiscriminate response by Myanmar’s military, sending more than 630,000 Rohingya fleeing to nearby Bangladesh.

Mohammad Fahid, 15, said he often finds himself looking through old photos and videos on his phone. He misses his friends. He misses school.

“I shared a lot of good times and laughter with my friends. I can’t do that here anymore,” he said. “We could go to school, now we can’t. So that is why I have kept these pictures. To remember.”

There is little work for the adults in the camps, and almost no schools for the children, who make up nearly 60 per cent of the refugees. There is plenty of time to scroll through cellphones.

But not all the phone memories are happy.