Dhaka, Jan 8: Rohingya people were still arriving here in Cox's Bazar - the New Year bringing
no end to the reports of violence and fears, which forced them to flee their
homes in Myanmar, says the IOM on Monday.
Over 2,400 Rohingyas are estimated to have
arrived in Bangladesh during December 2017, with more people continuing to
arrive each day as 2018 begins, according to the UN Migration Agency.
A major upsurge of violence in Northern Rakhine
State of Myanmar, in late August 2017 forced hundreds of thousands to flee
their homes.
While the number of daily arrivals has dropped
significantly since the height of the influx, many of those now reaching
Bangladesh say they faced additional challenges, which delayed their escape.
We couldn't leave before now because our village
was surrounded. A month ago my two sons were slaughtered. They went out fishing
and they were killed," said 50-year-old Ahmed, who was one of the first to
arrive in Bangladesh in 2018, along with his two daughters, aged 20 and 18, and
his 15-year-old son.
He said that the family had endured weeks of
fear in their village in Rathedaung, Rakhine, unable to leave their house even
to collect firewood.
Ahmed said that they had to pay a bribe of
150,000 kyat (c.USD $112) to the neighbours, who had been threatening them, to
be allowed to leave.
On arrival at the Balukhali settlement in Cox's
Bazar, Ahmed and his remaining family received medical check-ups and shelter
kits of ropes, tarpaulins and basic household goods to enable them to create a
place to live in the sprawling camps where 655,000 other refugees have sought
safety since August.
I feel safe here, said Ahmed's 18-year-old
daughter Raysuana, who said her mother had died years ago and her father had
worked hard to bring up his family alone as a widower.
As they waited at the arrival point in
Balukhali, a puddle of water fell through a section of the tarpaulin roof. The
unexpected noise left Ahmed badly shaken.
We continue to see a great deal of distress
among Rohingya survivors arriving in Bangladesh," said Olga Rebolledo,
IOM's mental health and psycho-social support coordinator in Cox's Bazar.
They have faced a lot of adversity and many are
in need of psycho-social support to help restore a sense of safety and further
strengthen the resilience they've already shown, added Rebolledo.
As an indication of why some of the new arrivals
have reached Bangladesh so many weeks after the main influx, out of the 17
families waiting to be led to their new shelter sites by IOM, the UN Migration
Agency, on January 4, ten were declared "extremely vulnerable" cases:
mostly single mothers, widows or people with disabilities, who will struggle to
build their own shelters or even survive without the additional support, which
will be provided by IOM and partner organisations.
IOM guided the "extremely vulnerable"
new arrivals to the less congested part of the site, where they will live,
helping carrying their shelter kits. Once they got to the new site, help was
given to construct their shelters.
The houses on both sides of ours [in Buthidaung,
Rakhine] were burned. Only my house was left," said one of the new
arrivals, Asama Begum, 35 years old.
Her husband died before the violence, leaving
her with a new baby and a son now 15 years old. She said the teenager was
attacked a few months earlier leaving him with a badly cut leg, which became
infected and swollen, rendering him unable to escape when others fled their
village.
I stayed because my son was sick. We were really
scared to be alone in the house, but tried just to find the mental strength to
stay. But then [people] started burning down the [remaining] empty houses
around ours and we could not stay any longer," said Asama.
She said, she paid someone to carry her son to
safety.
After moving from one country to another, at
least, we are getting this shelter. It is so peaceful here. We weren't even
allowed to stand freely in our own country so getting this means a lot, she
said as she stood looking out at the shelter where she was about to move in.
Nearby, Ahmed was about to become her new
neighbour. Initially anxious about how he would clear the ground on which he
would build his shelter, he relaxed after IOM partner's site management
volunteers put him in touch with the maji camp leader who was able to lend him
tools.
It will be peaceful here. No one is chasing or
torturing us. No fear of death here. I witnessed my daughter was tortured and
my sons were slaughtered. I will never go back. I'd rather die here, said
Ahmed. UNI
