On Sept 28, 2024 we began Poetry of the Camps with students from the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are the largest refugee community in the world. As a persecuted Muslim ethnic minority, they have been forced to escape decades of endless persecution in Myanmar where they have been denied citizenship since 1982, and have had to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. According to Human Rights Watch, “About one million Rohingya are currently living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, most of whom fled Myanmar in 2017 to escape the military’s crimes against humanity and possible genocide. 

The estimated 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State are subject to persecution and violence, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods.” As recently as August 2024, Myanmar’s Arakan Army attacked thousands of Rohingya with drones to drive them out of Rakhine, and killed more than 2000 Rohingya between April-May in Buthidaung alone. They are also unwelcome in Bangladesh.

We collaborated with the Rohingya Youth Club as our local partner, and the sessions were co-facilitated by educator and writer Ahtaram Shin. Together, Ahtaram and Founder/Director zehra imam taught the lessons in three languages: English, Rohingya, and Urdu. The students chose to write their poetry in English in order to reach us.