Zayed, a Rohingya refugee/humanitarian in Cox’s Bazar
Meet Zayed In a previous post I gave some detail about Arif, a Rohingya refugee turned humanitarian. His best friend is Zayed, and they share similar paths from refugee to ‘humanitarian.’ A very ambitious and hard working man, Zayed reports he is currently a fixer for the international media, does case management of protection issues under the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), is a freelance writer at Burma Times, and has worked as a Burmese language instructor under CODEC (Community Development Center). He is also a poet, having posted many on his Facebook page in the last months. See here for two of his recent efforts. Zayed met Arif when they were working together at the end of 2017 where they were teaching to the students together at t CODEC in Chittagong, Bangladesh. How do you define ‘humanitarian’? Above and elsewhere I use the awkward phrase ‘refugee/humanitarian’. But what does this term mean? The…
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FollowRefugee/humanitarian worker mental heath issues
“Was I born to live as refugee forever?” -Ro BM Hairu Refugee/humanitarian worker mental heath issues Working in the context of a major humanitarian response is tough physically, mentally, and, perhaps most of all, emotionally. This is especially so in a response generated by armed conflict that involves systematic rape, torture, forced displacement, and mass execution. Such is the case in Bangladesh where refugees from Myanmar -many Rohingya Muslims- carry deep physical and emotional scars. Efforts to deal with these issues are ongoing, and this upbeat report by UNHCR shows that human agency comes in many forms, in this case with the very young taking initiative to address serious and commonly experienced mental health issues. Emotional release through writing In my last two posts I presented, with comment, poems written by two young male refugees working for the Danish Refugee Counsel (DRC) in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (see here and…
Read MoreOn this World Refugee Day read some poems by refugee and humanitarian, Ro BM Hairu
On this World Refugee Day read some poems by refugee and humanitarian, Ro BM Hairu Too many displaced The news is stark. We learn from the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, that our global community has hit a depressing and historic number. There are now over 70.8 million children, women, and men who now are displaced from their homes due to war and persecusion. Over 1.2 million of those are refugees from Myanmar, victims of a government with questionable motives and methods. These refugees are victims twice over, harmed also by a failed humanitarian response. World Refugee Day On this World Refugee Day, below are some powerful poems from a refugee and humanitarian who fled Myanmar. The theme for this year’s World Refugee Day is #StepWithRefugees — Take A Step on World Refugee Day. As explained on the UNHCR web site: “Around the world, communities, schools, businesses, faith groups…
Read More“Ever Noteworthy Oppression”: An aid worker voice from Cox’s Bazar
An aid worker voice from Cox’s Bazar “Even the most extreme consciousness of doom threatens to degenerate into idle chatter. Cultural criticism finds itself faced with the final stage of the dialectic of culture and barbarism. To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today.” -Theodor Adorno Prelude I am reminded of two observations from James Dawes in his book That the World May Know. He states, “Indeed, giving voice can also be a matter of taking voice. “This contradiction between our impulse to heed trauma’s cry for representation and our instinct to protect it from representation -from invasive staring, simplification, dissection- is a split at the heart of human rights advocacy.” The voice I report below speaks in the first person of atrocities cum genocide, this one excruciatingly experienced by the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar…
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