Ram Das is the Deputy Country Director, Humanitarian Response, for CARE Bangladesh.
In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fled Myanmar to settle in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh. Three years later, nearly 1 million Rohingya are still waiting for justice, their rights back, and to return home. Most of them settled in the world’s most overcrowded refugee camps amid a complex humanitarian situation. Now the COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity to their lives. At the height of the pandemic, they are also dealing with the monsoon-cyclone season. As I write these lines, heavy downpour in Cox’s Bazar has inundated large areas in the camps.
While waiting for a positive turn in their lives, the Rohingya have put up a brave and strong struggle for survival. Back in 2017, Delder Begum walked for seven days with her young daughter to reach Cox’s Bazar. After 65 days of treatment at a local hospital, they were provided shelter at Camp 14, which is home for them now.