Rohingyas at Kutupalong: A Story of Hope and Despair

A round the clock narrative of the Refugee Camp

Abu Raihan Muammed Khalid

This is a story of the most unfortunate people of our time

Their own country rejects them. The country they came in denies them

This is a story of the Rohingya refugees living in Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's bazar District, Bangladesh. I have visited the Camp on 8th January 2017 and taken photos and videos of the situation there. I have already sent some of that content to many of you. Some of the video images you may have seen in my email.

This feature contains a harrowing tale of the miseries the Rohingya people going through even inside Bangladesh. No body knows how many of them are in Bangladesh, because nobody went to register or count them. No body know how they are doing, because nobody went there to ask them.

This is my personal attempt to tell the stories of this most unfortunate people of our time. Their own country rejects them. The country they came in denies them.

Thank you.

8.12 am: I arrived at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar.

I arrived here in Teknaf the evening before from St. Martin’s Island, a nearby coral island and popular holiday destination. I have come to see for myself the condition of the Rohingya Refugees who are living in Bangladesh. I spent the later part of the last evening discussing with the local media workers the whereabouts of the Rohingya refugee Camps and how best to visit one.

A new wave of Rohingya refugees are arriving following the latest wave of atrocities caused by Myanmar since October 2016. Human Rights Watch New York reported on November 21, 2016 that “new satellite imagery of Burma’s Rakhine State shows 820 newly identified structures destroyed in five different ethnic Rohingya villages between November 10-18, 2016”. The day after I visited Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp the New York Times published ‘There Are No Homes Left’: Rohingya Tell of Rape, Fire and Death in Myanmar.

It’s a grim, frustrating picture.

Photograph 1: Main Entrance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office, Teknaf, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Author

Photograph 2: Entrance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office, Teknaf, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Author

Fortunately, I had a friend at the town from my University days who introduced me to the people who might be able to help me. My friend showed me where the IOM office is so that I can come here by myself in the early morning.

Three nights ago I went through Teknaf to the St. Martins Island. On the very first morning when I came out of the Mosque in the centre of the town after saying my morning prayer a man approached me. He looked like an educated well to do local young man. But he told me that he is a Rohingya and arrived here some days ago from Myanmar. He has relatives living in Bangladesh, and will join them soon.

During my visit in the scenic St. Martin’s Island only a couple of hour ferry ride away from the Teknaf peninsula I met another Rohingya who was a waiter in a restaurant I had dinner. He told me his mother is from the Island and he came to live in with his maternal relatives some years ago. He did not have any Bangladeshi identity papers, or any papers whatsoever. In fact I was told that about 20% of the inhabitants of St. Martin’s island are Rohingyas, arrived in fishing boats and trawlers without ever encountering an immigration post.

I assume that there will be a good many Rohingyas living in Teknaf town and in the surrounding area as well. Since the dialect they speak is somewhat similar to that of Teknaf, and the physical appearance is undistinguishable from the Teknaf population, it is very hard to identify one just by looking at or talking to. It only adds to the problem that Rohingyas, fearing push back or general persecution from certain section of the Bangladeshis, would try to hide their Rohingya identity. It needs to be mentioned that the official Bangladeshi position is to push back the current onslaught of the Rohingyas in order to discourage further migration. For one reason Bangladesh already have a very large number of Rohingya refugees living in the country.

The IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration. It is supporting the Government of Bangladesh to increase access to healthcare services along with water sanitation and hygiene to the vulnerable Rohingya Refugees at formal and informal refugee Camps in the South Eastern Bangladesh, the Cox’s Bazar District. I was told by the local media workers that IOM would be able to provide me with information regarding my visit to a Camp.

The IOM Office Teknaf does not have a signboard at the entrance of the property it is located in, as can be seen from Picture No. 2 above. It does have a small stainless still sign post at the door of the building it is housed in, which is behind the first building in the walled property. We were told about this location by a Taknaf man who runs a community radio. But on arrival last evening I became confused. In my mind I thought an International Organization working for a vulnerable group must have a large openly visible sign board declaring a reassuring bold presence. There is no signboard on the entrance of the property at all.

We entered the empty deserted-looking property and seeing no signs or people I started calling for any people who may be present there; a guard or an attendant. But nobody replied. We decided this could not be the IOM office and went to find a local man who can help us find it. The man guided us into the same property and confirmed that this is indeed the IOM Teknaf office. That evening I turned down a dinner invitation from my friend in order to be able to wake up early to prepare for the day. I went to bed right after an early dinner at a local restaurant.

At my arrival at 8.12am I found the Guard of the office and a woman sweeping the floors of the office. I told the Guard that I wanted to meet the Manager or the person in charge of the office. He said no body has arrived yet and indicated that I leave. But I did not want to leave and asked if I could wait there. He agreed and I signed into the visitor’s register. About half an hour later of the usual office time, according to the Guard, a woman arrived complaining about the smell on the staircase. Indeed, I too noticed a very strong unpleasant smell coming from perhaps a rotting rat. Slowly more people arrived and one person asked me what I wanted.

I introduced myself and told him that I wanted to know about the Rohingya refugees. He said that they are working with the Rohingyas in at least three distinct locations; Lyada, Kutupalong and Noyapara. But he cannot give me any information. I wanted to see the Manager and he told me that there is no head of this unit; everybody is doing their own work. But then another person, a relatively older person, came to talk to me.

He too said that they cannot give me any information regarding the number of the Rohingya refugees, or an estimate of their number, or what different sort of services IOM is providing them. The elder person then left me as he had to go to one of the Camps. I asked if there is any printed literature regarding IOM’s activities in that area that he may give me, and the first person gave me a printed page. This later turned out not to an IOM literature but Government of Bangladesh’s Strategy regarding the Myanmar Refugees and unregistered citizens, which at one corner has an IOM emblem.

I was surprised by this refusal. Rohingya refugees are not any new or secret matter. The newspapers are regularly publishing their news. What could be the reason behind this refusal by an international organization to give any information? My training as a Barrister in the UK indicated that I should get the refusal in writing. I requested the person to give me the refusal in writing; he said that I did not make any request in writing so how should he give the refusal in writing. I wrote an application requesting to know about the Rohingyas IOM is working with.

The IOM employee now refused to accept the application or to reject the request in writing departing from his previous position. He said I needed to speak with the information officer and gave me a telephone number. We called that number from his mobile telephone and a person in Cox’s bazar answered the phone. He was in great hurry. He kept telling me that he was in a meeting and I needed to say what I wanted to say quickly. On enquiry however, he said that he is the coordination officer and the information officer is stationed in the Capital Dhaka. I took the telephone number and address so that I contact the office later.

I requested as a last resort if I could travel along with him when he told me that he is now going to visit a Camp and he said no. I could use some help as I did not know where the Camp is and how to go there. When I was leaving the office I took some photograph with the permission of the security guard.

Today on 24^th January ’17 I have searched using Google to learn more about what IOM does about the Rohingyas in Bangladesh. They have a website for Bangladesh, and apparently publish Newsletters. I searched the site and found one item containing the term ‘Rohingya’, and about four more items about ‘Myanmar Nationals’. None of these are from 2016 or 2017.

I have found two issues of the Newsletter on the website, one is the Issue 2, 2014, and the other one is Issue 1 2016. The 2014 issue has one item of news about “Myanmar Refugees and Undocumented Myanmar Nationals living in Bangladesh”. The 2016 issue has nothing on Rohingya issue.

The use of the term ‘Rohingya’ in related literature is important. “Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory”, a senior UN official has told the BBC. In December 2016 Malaysia has accused Myanmar of engaging in "ethnic cleansing" of its Rohingya Muslim minority. A Myanmar refugee other than a Rohingya has never been reported in Bangladesh.

The common identity of all these refugee victims characterizes these atrocities as ethnic cleansing, an offence against humanity. In a case of ethnic cleansing the ethnic identity of those persecuted is of great importance.

That is why it is extremely important to refer to them in their ethnic identity Rohingya every time we mention them. This is as important for human rights advocates as for the United Nations legal systems.

So why IOM is not using ‘Rohingya’ to refer to these refugees? The Rohingyas themselves see this as a major problem, so do the human rights advocates. Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN reports that “Myanmar rejects their citizenship and their name itself, and recently condemned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for saying "Rohingya" during the November Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Myanmar”.

Focusing on the problem in hand, I remembered a conversation I had with an IOM Volunteer at St. Martin’s Island during my stay there and also on the previous evening over telephone. He suggested that instead of consulting the office I visit a Camp myself on my own.

I asked the shopkeepers at the bus station about the bus for Kutupalong Camp and with their advice I boarded a bus. I fell asleep in the bus, I was exhausted. About an hour later I was at Kutupalong Bazar, and entered the first tea stall that I saw for a cup of tea and some snack. I felt better soon and approached the two young men standing nearby, if they could work as my guide in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp. The shop owner soon intervened and told me that these young men would not be very helpful, for one reason one of them is a Rohingya himself and does not understand the standard form of Bangla language I speak. I requested him to arrange me a guide. He did help me and a man sitting in the same tea stall stood and came near me. I paid my bill and soon we started afoot towards the Camp, which is only half a kilometer from the Bus station.

11.45 am: Kutupalong Camp

Photograph 3: Solar Street Lights in Kutupalong Refugee Camp. Photograp taken on 08 January 2017 by this author.

We arrived at the Camp around half past eleven. At first sight it reminded me of the tea garden’s workers colony in Sylhet, Bangladesh that I visited in my student days. It’s not that bad a place, you might think at first. The roads are clean earthen roads; no garbage littered on the sides of the house, there is solar light on the street which imports an air of modern sustainability. This picture shows bean and pumpkin vines on the roof of the hut; a sign of resilience of the inhabitants. This part of the Camp is old. The inhabitants arrived some years ago, some even 20 years ago, when the crisis first began in Myanmar. They have made the Camp their home.

Photograph 4: Water and Sanitation facilities at Kutupalong Camp. Photo Credit: Author

Photograph 5: Water and Sanitation facilities at Kutupalong Camp. Photo Credit: Author

The inhabitants get their water from tube wells installed by the various aid agencies. This one in the picture No. 4 has IOM, SIDA and USA emblem marked on the foundation. The Camp is located on hilly forests. There is no water sources around. The low grounds between the hills that accumulated some rain water are now dry in this winter. There is also bathroom and latrines, three units together, beside the tube well, provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund of the UN, IOM-OIM and USA through a local NGO SHED. People are collecting water from the tube well for domestic use.

Photograph 6: A boy standing in front of a line of huts in Kutupalong. 08 January 2017. Photo: Author

But the scenario changes fast. Once inside the Camp we see lines of huts built mainly with shards of polythene paper and few tree branches on bamboo structures. The tree branches are not the usual coconut, betel nut or date branches that are often used on roofs in these parts. These are taken from some wood trees from the surrounding thin forest and are not suitable for the purpose.

These huts are much worse than the first few we saw at the entrance of the Camp. They are one room accommodations of about 7 square feet for one family. Rohingyas have large families. Number of the family members can be up to 8 members or more. The beginning of January was mildly cold, but in a cold whether the huts would provide little protection from the cold or from the rain in the coming monsoon. We see one family planted a vegetable vine next to the hut’s door. They inhabitants of this hut are here for at least a few weeks.

Photograph 7: A Man standing in front of a hut answering our questions. 08 January 2017. Photo: Author

We started to talk to the residents of the Camp. A man comes out of a hut. He tells us that they came here about 20 days ago. They are part of the latest wave of the refugees that came in to Bangladesh following the last major atrocities that began in October 2016.

Photograph 8: Kutupalong Camp has grown inside a thin planted forest. Photo: Author

The Camp is located inside a thin planted forest on the west side of the Cox’s Bazar Teknaf highway in Ukhia Upajila (Sub-district) of Cox’s Bazar District. To its west lie vast hilly forests that end on the popular beach resorts of Inani on the Bay of Bengal.

Photograph 9: Banana field inside the Camp. Photo: Author

The plane land of the surrounding area is occupied by the Bangladeshi people. There are patches of rice fields, vegetable and fruit orchards like the one in Photograph 9 above in between the hills, cultivated by the Bangladeshi people. The same sorts of encroachments in forests are seen in all parts of the country.

Photograph 10: These latrines and water fountains are not as good as the ones near the entrance. Photo: Author

Although the tube well, bath rooms and the latrines that we saw near the entrance were made of bricks and corrugated tins, we see latrines made with bamboo walls and polythene roof on an earthen foundation as we progress. The initial impression of the Camp being a quiet modern sustainable place soon fades away. I could not find any emblem of any international or national aid agency on these facilities as we have seen on the better ones near the entrance. It is possible that the UN, IOM-OIM, USA and SIDA which assisted building the facilities near the entrance did not provide assistance for building these not so good ones.

Photograph 11: A Mosque with loudspeakers; dilapidated huts on the side of the hill. Photo: Author

The Rohingyas are all Muslims. Mosques with brick walls, tin roofs and loud speakers are seen frequently beside the dilapidated and unrecognisable living quarters. While we appreciate the good intentions, these relatively better looking Mosques help bring a quick consolation to the onlookers mind; just like the solar panels, street lights and the better sanitation facilities near the entrance. These are the images that will linger in the mind of a visitor long after leaving the Camp, not the 7 square feet excuses for houses, or the lives of their inhabitants.

12.15 PM: Rohingya Refugee Sikander tells his story. Refugee Camp, Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

In this video we see Rohingya Refugees are erasing parts of hills in order to make room for building new huts. Bangladesh Government destroyed some of the huts built in this area earlier, but they are building again.

In reply to my question Sikander, a Rohingya Refugee who came 10/15 days earlier said there is no other place to build a hut around here. The hills are the only place not occupied by the Bangladeshi people.

Sikander told me that he is now living in his relative's hut. His relatives are also refugees in this Camp who came earlier. His relatives are also paying for the construction of his hut, which is seen being built behind him. He is certainly lucky to have relatives who are so helpful.

He does not whether the Government of Bangladesh is providing any food or other help. Nobody gave him any information.

12.18 pm: The windy hilltop, an old Mosque and a tiny shop: Rohingya Refugee Camp, Kutupalong

This video shows a section of the Refugee Camp which has both old and new refugees; some are living in this Camp for 15 to 20 years. We see a Mosque built for the old refugees.

There are also new houses being built on the top of the hill. Bamboo structures are rising on bare sandy ground. The wind is quite strong on the hilltop. Vast expanse of the surrounding area was visible from this point. Yellowish brown bare sandy ground dotted with numerous shabby refugee huts as far as eyes goes. A line of hills and mountains are on the eastern horizon. That is Myanmar, only about few miles away, where these Rohingyas came from crossing the River Naf.

In the last part of this video clip we see a refugee opened a tiny shop on a table top catering for other refugees. He is selling lozenges, biscuits, carbonated bottled drinks etc. Their resilience is inspiring.

12.19: Erased Hills and broken huts: Rohingyas rebuild huts previously destroyed by the Bangladesh Department of Forest.

In this video we see the Bangladesh Department of Forest, which manages this area, destroyed huts built by the Rohingya Refugees. Rohingyas are now rebuilding huts in the same location. The ground is visibly erased; it is not unlikely that there were trees standing on this location before.

Photograph 12: Environmental Campaign by the Aid Agencies. Photo: Author

Prominent emblems of ACF International, USA and EU are seen on large billboards dedicated to environmental awareness of the residents of the Camp. The one in the Photo No. 12 tells to dispose of the waste into garbage bins. Although we did not see any garbage bins in the Camp. We did not see the entire of it, which is true.

Photograph 13: Some more huts, a pair of solar panel on top of one. My two guides are seen standing on the left side. Photo: Author

The guide who accompanied me is seen standing on the left in white lungi and blue shirt. The man standing next to him in a white shirt is a resident refugee of the Camp who arrived some years ago. He volunteered to show me around the Camp and hushed into my ear a few times that my guide is trying to shorten my tour so that I do not see the most of the Camp. The houses in this section of the Camp are made of mud walls and roof made of polythene shards. The next monsoon will be a trying time for the inhabitants.

Photograph 14: Corridors are not that clean inside the Camp. Photo: Author

The corridors seen in Photo 14 are dirty, wet in places even in dry winter. It appears that there is no place near to dispose of the rubbish or the household waste water, so they have just been thrown outside the house. This type of environment is regularly seen in the urban slums of Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. They create an ideal environment for infectious diseases. There have been reports that the Rohingyas in Camps in Bangladesh had been suffering from topical disease- pneumonia, diarrhoea, fever and cough.

Photograph 15: A woman selling fuel woods from her hut entrance. Photo: Author

In the photograph above a woman selling fire woods from the entrance of her house. The Camp is located inside a forest, so the first thought that came to my mind was that this came from a tree of that forest. There were reports in the Bangladeshi media in the past that the Rohingyas are cutting down trees of the surrounding forests to sell. I asked the woman where she got that fire woods, she said she bought those from the market.

12.35: The alleyway of Hope and Despair: A view of the refugee huts lining on both sides of the passage.

My Rohingya volunteer guide in blue half shirt tell reminds me of the vastness of the Camp. It would be easy to lose direction inside the Camp. We see numerous huts lined on both sides of way.

Thousands of Rohingyas found shelter in these ramshackle huts. It is an alleyway of hope and despair. This is the thickest part of the Camp that we have visited. Street light, solar panel on roof and one unit of brick built latrine with male and female signs on different doors are seen.

This part is not new, vegetable vines are seen on more than one roofs. They are not the refugees who came following the latest October onslaught.

My guides reiterate their warning not to give money to the refuges. There could be troubles if I tried that, they said.

12.42: Man cutting side of a hill inside the Camp.

A man is cutting the side of a hill inside Kutupalong Refugee camp. It is not clear whether he is a refugee or a local Bangladeshi. There are rice fields behind him planted by the locals Bangladeshis. It could very well be the Bangladeshies who are still cutting hills. There are abundant signs of past hill cutting in the area, the patches of rice and vegetable fields, banana plantation, etc.

I have a feeling that the man in the video cutting hill in a vigorous manner is a local Bangladeshi. It could not be examined though; my guides were going another way. It is easy to think that the locals who have in the past established their dominance over the Rohingya refugees in the Camp will dominate matters like these too. I heard rumours during my tour there that some Bangladeshi influential locals are building some of these huts on hills and renting them to the Rohingyas, it could not be substantiated.

However, a 2013 news report published by Kaladan Press Network (KPN), which claims to be an independent and non-profitable news agency of Rohingyas of Arakan, Burma,  stated that “a Bangladeshi killed a Rohingya refugee named Nur Mohamed (45), living  in unregistered refugee camp for rent of open space in front   where Nur denied to pay for rent of space”. Similar accusations of violence by local Bangladeshis towards the Rohingyas have been made by another Rohingya media the Rohingya Vision TV and IRIN.

We could not find any independent report substantiating the view that Bangladeshis are renting space to the Rohingya refugees.

However, in video image taken by us below titled ‘12.53: Rohingyas cultivate Vegetable in land rented from Bangladeshis’ we hear my guide telling me that the Rohingyas are growing vegetables in land rented from the Bnagladeshies.

Some of the rumours might be true.

Photograph 16: A small temporary shop selling packaged and freshly made snacks. Photo: Author

We have seen quite a few shops and a market in the Camp. This temporary shop is selling packaged and freshly made snacks to the Refugees. The man is frying sweetened round shaped dough in oil. These deep fried sweet dough balls are called ‘gulgula’. This is made by mixing unrefined wheat flour with sugar and water and then deep frying the dough in hot oil in a karai. It was quarter to one in the afternoon, lunchtime. But this is not a lunch time food, it is an all-day snack. Later, at the end of our visit in the Camp I ate some of these ‘gulgula’ in Kutupalong Bazar with my guide and volunteers. That was our lunch for the day, because that was all that was available there. Although freshly grated coconut was added to the ones we ate.

Photograph 17: More huts are being built on partly erased hill sides. Earth slide and erosion may become big problems during next monsoon. Photo: Author

In Photo 17 we saw sides of hills have been erased and more huts are being built on them. Earth slide and erosion may become big problems during next monsoon. Later we have seen a man cutting down the side of a hill by the side of a rice field. It was not clear if he was a local Bangladeshi or a Rohingya Refugee.

12.51pm: Rohingya Refugee Sirajul Islam tells me that his house in Myanmar was burnt by the Military.

In this video we numerous new makeshift huts built on hillsides. A woman washing clothes in the little puddle of rain water in the low ground between the hills wearing a full burka. I do not remember ever seeing a woman wearing a full burka while washing clothes in the open in Bangladesh. I wonder if this is to save one’s dignity in the harsh and hostile environment of the Refugee Camp or a regular observance of religious edict. Another family is seen bathing on the left in this same puddle.

The huts in front of us were built about a month ago, tell the locals.

The Refugee in this video, Sirajul Islam, tells me that his house in Myanmar was burnt by the Military. He received 25 Kilograms rice from the Government of Bangladesh. He does not know if there will be more help later. He was not registered as a refugee at the Camp, no paperwork whatsoever was done. He collected the rice in exchange of a token which was given earlier by a 'Majhi', a community leader, in the Camp.

Nobody gave him any information regarding how he may register himself as a refugee so that he may receive more assistance. His fellow refugees are themselves in great distress, he tells me, and are unable to help.

12.53: Rohingyas cultivate Vegetable in land rented from Bangladeshis.

In this very short video image a nice field of a few plots of vegetable are seen. My guides told me that the Rohingyas are cultivating these fields; the land belongs to the local Bangladeshis. Rohingyas paid the Bangladeshis some money for the land so that they can grow vegetables there.

12.57pm: Rohingya Refugee Dil Mohammed tells his story

In this video Rohingya Refugee Dil Mohammed tells me that he arrived at this Camp 10/15 days ago. When they were attacked, they left the home at once; there was no time even to close the doors. He could not bring any money with him, not even the clothes, he tells me.

He arrived by walking through the hilly forests that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh. It was horrible, he tell me. His entire family could not come with him. Some of his children are still behind, but they are alive, he says.

They are eight now in his family in Kutupalong Camp. He did not receive any help; food or otherwise, from anybody yet.

I told him that many NGOs have their offices at the nearby Kutupalong Bazar. Did he try to get any help from there? He said he tried once or twice, but could not get through the big crowd of women there. He adds that he felt embarrassed to look for food from people. He was a well to do farmer in Myanmar, tells my guide.

I asked him if the refugees who came earlier are helping the newcomers with information. He said no. I had a volunteer with me who is also a Rohingya refugee who came some months ago. He confirmed that there is no such organized effort among the old refugees in the Camp to help the new comers with information. Although media reports often refers to Camp Committee, I wonder why none of the residents, new and old, mentioned this Committee to me during conversation.

This is important because although these Rohigya people speak a distant dialect of Bengali, their language quite different from the language of the local population. Besides, they do not know the locality, or the governance structure of Bangladesh. They are in severe distress too.

No Govt. or non-Govt. organization came to register him as a refugee, Dil Mohammed says.

He and his family are going through severe hardships. The night before our conversation the family had boiled rice with a green chilli chatni. They had no food that day up to the time when we had the conversation, around 12.55 pm.

Photograph 18: A used clothes shop near the Mosque. Photo: Author

A used clothes shop near a Mosque where we said our noon prayer with the refugees. It was a very hot midday with dry air. After climbing up and down several hills in the open sun I was feeling as though I would faint soon. I drank some water and rested little bit inside the shade of the Mosque before staring our tour again.

I did not see any interested buyers, but the shopkeeper said that business is all right. The clothes are mostly used jeans trousers and western style shirts, and some women’s clothes.

Dil Mohammed, the Refugee I interviewed who said that he and his family did not eat anything since morning came to meet me again after the prayer. He was clearly looking for some money this time, but I did not give him any. At the Kutupalong Bazar when I hired the guide I was advised by the shop keeper not to give any money to a refugee. He said if they see handing out money big crowds of refugees would harass me for more money and there were instances where they have even assaulted such benefactors, tearing clothes etc.

It was probably a wise decision if the story is correct, but my conscience still hurts me when I think that I could have given that man some money to buy a meal for his family that noon. Later we did give some rice to a few families of newly arrived Rohingyas, but Dil Mohammed’s family was in a different neighbourhood of the Camp.

Photograph 19: The small open house is the place for consultation and mediation in the Camp, a parliament and a court combined. Photo: Author

This beautiful structure is located near the market that grew in the Camp. The structure resembles a type of leisure houses built in the past in Bengal, with a roof and no walls, so that wind comes in to relieve from the heat and humidity. These houses were known as haoyaghor, or air house. People would sit in there and gossip in the hot and humid days.

But this was no leisurely air house. I was told that it is the place where the people of the Camp sit to discuss matters related to governance of the Camp, or to mediate a dispute. It is the parliament and the court combined for the Camp.

A billboard near the structure tell the residents that nobody can defecate on the drains of the Camp in Bengali and Myanmar languages. This billboard was installed by EU, NGO Forum for Public Health and the UNHCR.

Photograph 20: An unlikely business woman in a temporary shop in the market that grew up in the middle of the Camp. Photo: Author

It is the market that grew inside the Camp. A woman is selling vegetables in her shop. She brought dried fish, potatoes, radishes, aubergines, kakrol, a type of gourd and green chillies to sell.

She is wearing an unmistakably Burmese long sleeve blouse and a long sarong like gown with a large scarf covering her head and upper body. The worn but beautiful blouse and shiny metal bracelets in her hands and an uncomfortable look on her face tells of better days in the past, perhaps a housewife in a farmer’s household; and her unease in this new position as a business woman.

There are quite a few other shops, both temporary and permanent, in the market spread around a large open area. We have taken video image of the market.

01.36pm: A Market in Kutupalong

This is the market that we spoke about above. A boy is selling dried fish to two women wearing full Burkas. Dried fish are the protein of choice for the people of the part of Myanmar they come from, the Rakhain state.

I remember in 1996 when I stayed at my Rakhain friend’s house in Teknaf, the friend who helped me find the address of the IOM office in Teknaf and also booked my hotel room for this visit, we had dried fish dishes almost every meal of the day. It was quite an experience for me. The mainstay of Bengali diet is fish and vegetable curries, dried fish are treated as a food of interest for a few.

There is a shop with fresh leafy vegetables, the next shop is selling inexpensive local fruits called boroi (Ziziphus mauritiana) and tentul (tamarind), then there is another used clothes shop, a tea stall, another dried fish and vegetable shop, and some permanent tea stalls.

02.29 pm: one refugee shows me his broken leg

Before starting my journey I intended to give some alms to the Rohingya refugees. I said that to my guides. They said they will help me arrange that. We went to the Kutupalong Bazar, and there we bought fifty kilograms of rice. We made about 25 two kilograms packets and carried that to a part of the Camp where the newly arrived Rohingyas live. We distributed the packets. Each packet to a family, which will give them one meal of boiled rice for that day. The above is the video image of that. It cost me about 3,000 taka, including the payments of the guides, which is equivalent to 37 US Dollar.

When we were doing that one refugee shows me his broken leg in braces. Myanmar Military broke his leg with a rod, he says. He treated the broken leg with braces in Bangladesh. He did not receive any medical assistance from anybody in this Camp.

We return to the Kutupalong bazar soon after that and eat our lunch with gulgula. Then I leave in a shared microbus for Teknaf where I shall spend the night before starting for Dhaka the next morning. It was almost sunset time when I reached Teknaf. Our micro bus was miraculously saved from an accident on the way back.