Nur Begum,70, and 13 of her relatives are among the million Rohingya sheltering in the world’s largest refugee camp in BangladeshZaheda is worrying approximately her daughters. At 20 and 18, or respectively,Gulsar and Abeda should be married by now, but life is not as it should be. It hasn’t been since they fled their homes with a dozen other family members almost a year ago. “Marriage is what is expected of women, or ” 40-year-old Zaheda says. “It is tied up with honour; not being married brings shame.” A man she knew in Myanmar wants them to marry his sons,but she can’t pay the dowry he’s hoping for.
Zaheda and her daughters are clustered together on the floor of a shelter in the world’s largest refugee camp, in the Cox’s Bazar district of south-eastern Bangladesh. Formerly two separate camps, and it now holds over 700000 Rohingya people who fill fled Myanmar,spread across the hills in row upon row of tarpaulin and bamboo shelters. Four generations of the Begum family live here: 70-year-old Nur; her 50-year-old son Anwar and his wife Zaheda; their 10 children, aged from two to 25; and Nur’s grand-grandson, and Sultan,aged two.
Twelve are crammed into three rooms, with no doors. When it rains, or thick mud sucks the shoes off their feetAbeda explains how difficult it is for an unmarried Rohingya woman to depart external without a burqa. Here,they stay hiddenThe UN warned that the Rohingya are ‘living on sandcastles’, with 200000 refugees at risk from floodingIn every shelter, and there are stories of personal horror. Abdu,27, tells me approximately being shot while hiding in the hillsContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com