Inside Rohingya: Why we must help!

Impoverished and stateless, the Rohingya people have been rejected by Myanmar, a country they call home. In recent months, the escalating violence in Rakhine State has caused catastrophic suffering, forcing over 600,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees across the border to Bangladesh. I had the opportunity to visit the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh and meet many Rohingya families, thanks to a trip organized by Sharjah’s Big Heart Foundation and UNHCR. While I witnessed the remarkable strength of the Rohingya people, I was overwhelmed by the sheer percentage of kids in the population and the overall scale of the crisis. I left with a deep sense of responsibility for all of us to support them generously and urgently.

The resilience and strength of the Rohingya people is remarkable. Despite having been forced out of their ancestral lands and losing many dear family members to violence, they continue to plough ahead. I saw them building shelters, set up shops to start a small business, and attend to their families; at least 15% of the families are unfortunately headed by a child or a mother. Their trauma is unbelievably raw and their pain is heart-rending, yet they carry on with perseverance. Most surprising of all, they almost unanimously want to go back to their homeland.

Moreover, I could not help but notice the sheer number of kids in the population. They make up 55-60% of the population. These kids have been through trauma and helping them deal with it is a critical part of the humanitarian response. But what’s needed even more is educating them. They need to become productive members of the society in the future and stay away from exploitation and abuse. We need an emergency scale-up of schools in the refugee camp to not just give them the required education but also give them a safe and fun environment to be kids with others.

Visiting the refugee camp further strengthened my belief that we need immediate and sustained humanitarian aid from the global community. Each one of us needs to recognize this as a distressing human issue that knows no borders. The global community – individuals, the private sector and the public sector alike – needs to get more involved and urgently support the Rohingya Muslims effectively and generously. The scale of the emergency needs it, and we must help with whatever we can to alleviate their sufferings.

For the sake of fueling their resilience, protecting their children and helping humanity, we cannot remain silent while hundreds of thousands live in limbo without a place in the world to call home. For more information and to support, check out the UNHCR website on the Rohingya emergency. If you are a Careem customer in UAE and Saudi, you can also support by using the UNHCR car option on the app.