My name is Mohammed Nowkhim. I am from Taung Bazar, Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar. I am currently living in Camp (3), Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
My childhood in Taung Bazar was normal, but as I grew older, I encountered a world where every human right was denied to us. I learned how we were marginalised and discriminated, religiously, socially and politically, only for being who we are: Rohingya.
Despite this, I managed to receive an education at a government-run school in a rural area. In 2013/14, I passed my matriculation, but after 2012, the Myanmar government’s regulations did not allow me to be the enrolled at a University.
As my parents were ageing, I was determined to help them. I believed my hard work would help me succeed in my career. I applied to become a primary school teacher, but I was rejected because I was born to Rohingya parents. Only then, I found out that I was not eligible for any government job in Myanmar.
So I decided to start teaching privately to students in my community.
At midnight on August 25, 2017, I was woken up by the noise of intense gunfire. I had no idea where it was coming from, or what was happening. The shooting continued through the night and into the morning. Then the town fell silent. The day was empty apart from the clatter of distant gunfire. There was no one outside. As the violence gotten worse, we had no choice but to flee our country in search of a safer place.
I am now a refugee.
I live in the world’s largest refugee camp, where my life is spent trying to survive, relying on aid. The world I knew is gone. The people I loved are displaced, missing or dead.
As I say this, I do reminisce of my village and home back then. My village was full of joy, happiness and hospitality, all the time. Despite the hardships and poverty that we had to go through, my villagers will always greet each other with a soothing smile. My home was one of the safest and most beautiful places in this world. Yet, all of this perished in the blink of an eye.
I am very grateful to at least have a place to stay relatively safe and united with my family, but as a Rohingya, the denial of education is one of my top concerns.
Our Rohingya young generations are growing up without any sort of education in refugees camps. According to UNICEF, 98% of Rohingya refugees aged 15-24 receive no education at all.
We have a saying: “If you want to destroy a community, you don’t need to kill the people, just prevent them from studying”.
According to the UN human rights declaration, “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory”.
In Cox’s Bazar, there are at least 20,000 middle school students and 5,000 potential high school students.
In the camps, NGOs and INGOs are setting up many informal schools where our children are not willing to go because the teachers are unqualified. Parents avoid sending their children there, and they let them play all day.
Genocide is not only the violence, the killing and the torture. Our entire community is losing access to education, and this also part of the genocide. What future can our youths have, without proper education?
We are getting enough help to tackle our basic needs, and we are very grateful to Bangladesh and other organizations for that, but we really miss a formal education. We did not have any, for the past four years, since we arrived in this camp. We also need to gain access to higher levels of education, even abroad, so we can gain knowledge and improve our skills to help our community develop.
At the moment only 20% of teenagers are attending classes with community teachers, but most of them are not even able to read, because they can’t afford buying textbooks.
Others are self-studying at their own shelters. But most are either looking for a job to help their families, or just do nothing for lack of other choices.
Unfortunately young people, especially women, have no chance to improve themselves here. There are young people creating movies, building cars, making art in the camps, but there is no one who can come and appreciate them. There is so much talent dying in the camps.
We need the international community to find this talent and give it a chance.
I think international NGOs, government agencies, and UN agencies should consult our community more and include us in the decision-making about education. We would like NGOs to implement the same curriculum we adopted in Myanmar. There are many Rohingya teachers who have experience teaching. Some of them were teachers who served under the Myanmar ministry of education prior 2017.
I am proof that refugees can do anything as long as you give them a chance. “I decided to not be a victim, to not seek revenge, but to be a leader and a peace builder. I’m a refugee. Now in Bangladesh, I use my own voice to speak up for all refugees worldwide.”
We need our young generations to be educated. They are the future of our community.
Mohammed Nowkhim is a bright young Rohingya currently living in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. He’s a human rights defender, Senior Executive member, technician and Youth Leader of ARSPH, member of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), member of the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees – APNOR and Senior executive board member at Southeast Asia Young Peacebuilders Organization. You can follow him on Twitter or on Facebook
I want to thank him for taking the time in these weeks to explain to me the situation in Cox’s Bazar.
The military coup in Myanmar somehow changed the public perception of what happened in 2017. There is still a long way ahead. Justice, repatriation and reparations are still far, but as we fight to free Myanmar from this dictatorship, we have to remember that there is no justice for Myanmar, without justice for people of all ethnicities, including our Rohingya sisters and brothers.
The recent assassination of Mohib Ullah is an incredible loss for all, not only for the Rohingya community. The world needs leaders like him. He worked hard to promote peace, criticizing the violence in the camps (reason why he received many threats by criminal gangs, including ARSA). He flew to the White house to promote the Rohingya cause. He spoke to the UN Human Rights council. He collected the names of the victims of the brutal 2017 genocide, with the hope to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for its crimes.
He literally fought the same battles we are fighting in right now.
If you wish to help providing education to some Rohingya girls, please consider a donation to this little project.
The regime must fall, so all people of Myanmar can live with dignity and freedom.
0 Comments