Rohingya Crisis Still in a Dire Status

702,000 Rohingya have been displaced due to systematic and violent persecution by the Myanmar military since August of 2017. Despite attempts to hide the evidence and vehement denial by the government, literally hundreds of thousands of first-hand accounts describing arson, forced evictions, abductions, rape, beatings, torture, executions and false imprisonment have come from the traumatized lips of the victims fleeing for their lives, dubbed “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by the UN.

The Rohingya crisis has reached a critical mass; with the current population of the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar totalling 915,000. They can neither return to their homeland without the assurance of justice and security, which the Myanmar government has been very hesitant to acquiesce to; nor can the environment and impoverished local populace in Cox’s Bazar support this immense influx of people, a poor region in a poor country in of itself.

The present and potentially even worse inclement weather presents a new threat — landslides and flooding; ecological disasters adding to the deforestation and loss of natural habitat that has already left a massive environmental scar in Cox’s Bazar, with over 200,000 people at risk, of which 25,000 are at very high risk. There has already been 58 incidents affecting 9,748 people, damaging 1,152 shelters, and 24,735 already affected by the monsoon rains*. The situation is becoming untenable, with no definite reprieve on the horizon. Something needs to be done, and done soon.

The needs cannot be understated. A population approaching a million stateless Rohingya are stranded in Cox’s Bazar, with nowhere to call home. In any other situation they would be a sizeable town or small city; indeed the influx since August is slightly more than the entire population of Washington DC. However here, on this land, they are still lacking basic human necessities — solid shelter, drinkable water, nutrition, healthcare and education. Not to mention the sheer psychological shock from witnessing immense violence, with many thousands being raped and pregnant from it, and witnessing the killing of loved ones that they survived to get to Bangladesh. Many were in shock and unable to speak for weeks after their arrival; scared, confused and traumatized. Aid workers had to try to gain their trust before they accepted any help and only then could they move on tangible needs — food, water, medical attention — all of which are still sorely lacking for the massive population of the camps.

Friendship’s teams have been working since September to bring appropriate responses. That being an integrated, sustainable and holistic approach towards a solution that includes static clinics, mobile pathology lab, maternity clinics, WASH installations, child friendly social spaces, solar-powered electricity supply, bridges, signboards encouraging respectful and ethical giving, and of course medical and nutritional supplies. These interventions act together to cater to both their physical and psychological needs, rehabilitating them in the truest sense, whilst preserving their dignity and hope.

It is not however, a responsibility that Friendship can shoulder by itself. Along with other (non)government, (inter)national entities, the organization needs support to alleviate the poor conditions and stabilize the situation, so that the Rohingya can have sustainable, comfortable, hospitable living conditions until they can be repatriated or assimilated. The Rohingya crisis is not going to solve itself, and we need your assistance. Every little bit matters. Please help us, help them.

A Rohingya Woman Steps Out of a Taboo

Momtaz Begum was startled at the topic of discussion at a group meeting in the Rohingya camp. Never could she imagine that she would be learning about hygiene practices in regards to menstruation, which is considered shameful by the community she lived in.

Momtaz was attending a focus group discussion conducted by Friendship as a part of the IOM project: Humanitarian WASH assistance to Rohingya Refugee. The project has been implemented to enhance the understanding of good hygiene practices for the Rohingya, which is key in maintaining hygiene and sanitation in the massive Rohingya camps.

                          Momtaz Begum

Although initially Momtaz was feeling too shy to participate, seeing other women sharing their experiences encouraged her, and out of curiosity to know more, she also joined in. She shared with them that every month she faced great difficulties during her menstruation cycles. All her life she used cotton cloth which she dried in secret, instead of using sanitary napkins. During her period, when she used to feel too unwell to do her household chores, her family used to scold her. She could never share her difficulties with her husband as menstruation was deemed a taboo topic. She even slept in a separate bed to avoid the supposed shame of staining the bedsheets. Moreover, she used to avoid eating nutritious foods in fear of heavy discharge during her periods, so as to be inconspicuous about her condition.

At the group discussion, she was greatly surprised to learn that there is no shame in menstruation, as it is a natural monthly cycle for every girl and woman up to the age of 45 or more. Instead, the health condition should be shared with family members so that they can be understanding. For the first time in her life, she learnt about the need to increase the intake of water, nutritious food and maintain hygiene practices by changing the sanitary napkin more than 4 to 5 times a day. The need to dispose sanitary napkin in a designated place or pit was also highlighted, for everyone’s health and safety.

“We have never had such training about personal hygiene in Myanmar. We are grateful to Friendship and IOM for providing us with such useful information”, said Momtaz. Now Momtaz is eager to share her newfound knowledge with other Rohingya women in the camp, so that they can also benefit from it. Her knowledge, she feels, should be shared by all, but not her shame. She believes that by relating her experiences to women going through the same thing, she can diminish if not eliminate the anxiety and health risks that she had to suffer through herself at one time.

Youtube ► https://www.youtube.com/FriendshipNGO
Facebook ► https://facebook.com/friendshipngo
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/friendship_ngo
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/friendshipngo

Dark clouds hover over survivors in camps

Having slipped and stumbled up the worn-out steps carved into the slope of the hill, the view from atop makes it very difficult to be optimistic. Ominous rain clouds hang over hill after hill of bare brown mud, crammed with makeshift tarpaulin and bamboo structures.

Last year, these slopes were densely forested, with a few makeshift settlements for Rohingya people escaping persecution in adjacent Myanmar. In August 2017 the Myanmar military launched a scorchedearth operation, which sent thousands of terrified refugees fleeing across the border each day. Within two months the hills had transformed into the largest refugee camp in the world.

It took an unprecedented humanitarian effort by Bangladesh to accommodate more than 700,000 desperate new arrivals. Government and non-government agencies rushed to install basic infrastructure. A thousand acres of forest was razed with astonishing speed to make way for homes.

Much of the infrastructure built to provide essential services to the new population became potential threats to their safety. For example, in the first weeks since August 2017, NGOs dug as many latrines as they could wherever they could find space, to try and preserve the dignity and health of the traumatized newcomers. But within weeks, the same latrines, dug to an inadequate depth, and used far beyond capacity, were quickly filled up and overflowing. A light shower of rain sent rivulets of putrid waste running through the camp.

Now that monsoons and the threat of cyclones is nigh, the vulnerability of the camp inhabitants is starkly obvious. Already this month an eight-year-old girl was killed in a landslide. According to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Report by Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) as of 22 May, around 200,000 individuals are at risk of landslide and flood in camps, of which 25,000 are at very high risk. Some 18,408 people have been relocated from high risk locations or were otherwise part of risk mitigation efforts.

Moreover, the density of the population here means that even a small occurrence disaster could take many lives. UN’s recommends having at least 35 square meters of space per person in any habitation. In the camps there is less thanfive square meters to each person. Further relocations are on-going to reduce the density and risk.

“When we constructed our latrines, we took these dangers into consideration,” says Farid Ahmed Sagar, senior manager of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Management at Friendship, one of 79 majorNGOs working at the Rohingya camps. “They are enclosed spaces with bathing rooms and separate latrines for men and women. They were constructed on raised cement platforms, in areas that we deemed least likely to flood.”

Friendship dug its latrine pits to a minimum depth of six feet. Yet, knowing that eventually even these will fill up, they have constructed two desludging plants to empty and treat the waste from surrounding latrines. Sagar points out that each detail represents a struggle. Even finding a space in the crowded camp, where a project does not inconvenience or disturb residents in any way, is a difficult task.

Despite the precautions, it’s impossible to guarantee the safety of the latrines, says Friendship director Kazi Amdadul Hoque. “Because we have never worked in this landscape before, we do not know it well. We have done all our work during the dry season. We can only identify possible threats and arrange alternatives.”

The site management at the camp, which is a partnership involving all the organizations working at each camp block, have been surveying to identify at-risk facilities and getting the organisations responsible to dismantle or move these projects. However, their assessments are mere approximations, given that the landscape has not been tested by severe flooding or rain.

All it takes is one flooded latrine to contaminate all the water sources in an area, destroy the environment, and put the population of the camp at risk of cholera outbreak. Heavy rain poses other risks. Latrines on slopes are at risk of collapsing during mudslides.

Bangladesh has done a herculean job of accommodating the largest fleeing population of our times. But the entire job was done without regard for future problems.

Looking at the landscape from atop the hill, one wonders what might happen if a bad cyclone were to sweep over the area. How long would it be before the flimsy bamboo and plastic sheeting would give way? What might the scale of destruction be in such a densely populated and vulnerable area? Are there shelters and hospitals equipped to even begin to deal with such a contingency?

With the risk of cyclones, rain, and floods around the corner, the upcoming season will be a trying one in Cox’s Bazar.Now that the immediate catastrophe of a fleeing population has been negotiated, attention to long-term disaster preparedness is the next most urgent need.

Support Friendship’ Rohingya response: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/rohingya-crisis-appeal-get-involved/.

Youtube ► https://www.youtube.com/FriendshipNGO
Facebook ► https://facebook.com/friendshipngo
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/friendship_ngo
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/friendshipngo

NGO as Zakat Collector

Inequality of wealth is the biggest constraint in human development. Zakat is an impactful instrument aimed to reduce this problem. NGOs and government bodies alike can direct the Zakat that they collect on behalf of the recipients to those who need it the most, whilst still following the rules and regulations set forth pertinent to Zakat collection and donation in Islam. This allows for a much more widespread use of the donations that millions of Muslims make, thereby facilitating social benefit that would otherwise struggle to find backing, at least of the scale that Zakat allows.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with praying 5 times a day, fasting during Ramadan, pilgrimage for Hajj, and of course faith in Allah and his prophet, Muhammad. It is one of the core principles of the religion, and it is obligatory for all Muslims who have means that exceed their bare necessities to donate 2.5% of their wealth.

Who can receive Zakat?

There are 8 types of people who can receive zakat complying Islamic shariah (law).

1. The poor: As is obvious, the zakat goes to those people who cannot afford to live a happy healthy life.

2. The needy: Those people who have no earthly possessions, and have nowhere to call home.

3. Trusted Zakat collectors: Zakat can be given to trusted zakat collectors, who will redistribute it to those others in need in accordance with the rules and regulations of Islam. This may be private NGOs or government bodies, as long as the donations are transparent and in keeping with scripture.

4. New converts: New converts to the faith that have been ostracized for their decision may also receive zakat, to help them on their path of Islam.

5. Free slaves: Zakat can be given to free slaves. Though slavery is not as widespread, and certainly not as open as in times past, human trafficking still exists, and zakat can be given to free or assist them.

6. To spread the word of Islam: Zakat can be given to help those who are struggling to spread the word of Islam or protect it and its followers from those who would do it harm.

7. Clear debt: Zakat can be used to clear debts of people who have no other options, so long as they incurred that debt from honest and moral ventures.

8. Stranded traveller: Zakat may be used to return lost or stranded travellers to their homes, so that they can reunite with their families and loved ones.

Friendship NGO as Zakat Collector

The people that Friendship works with in the deltaic island areas are some of the most isolated and unaddressed people in Bangladesh. The shifting riverine islets come and go with the tides, and the people who live on them are bereft of any kind of infrastructure or access. Abandoned, disregarded and forgotten, their conditions are abysmal and they are stuck in an ancient time before modern technology, medicine or education.

Friendship’s founding interventions started with its health sector, which has evolved to multi-tiered, innovative, unique and effective healthcare system that employs national and international doctors, locally trained medic-aides, mobile healthcare system, satellite connectivity, and of course the floating hospitals that the organization is known for. This holistic, multi-faceted healthcare system provides diagnostics, medication and surgeries of many kinds, all paid for by the generous donors, thereby saving and improving lives every day.

Friendship also brings the light of education to children and adults of every age, using unique, innovative and ICT-aided technology that bypasses the dearth of teachers and electrical power lines. The children from these schools have proven its effectiveness in public examinations, with results far above national averages.

Friendship’s zakat project will be directing its donations towards these two sectors (of its six), under strict adherence to Islamic laws, with clear, transparent monitoring and reporting.

Your zakat will help save and improve the lives of the people who have been all but ignored for generations and give them a chance to change their lives towards the better, living happily, healthily and productively. There is no greater purpose than giving these people, who have nothing, the ability to stand up and make something of themselves, realize their potential, and maintain their dignity and hope.

Youtube ► https://www.youtube.com/FriendshipNGO
Facebook ► https://facebook.com/friendshipngo
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/friendship_ngo
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/friendshipngo