Sufaira defies hopelessness in the world's largest refugee camp

Fleeing gruesome attacks

Sandwiched between India and Myanmar is Bangladesh. Three times the size of Denmark, but home to about 30 times as many people, it is extremely densely populated. But in a small area of Cox's Bazar province in the south of the country, the population density is even higher than the national average. The province is home to 33 settlements of makeshift bamboo shelters, collectively known as the world's largest refugee camp.

In this area of just 13 square kilometers, nearly one million people from Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority have found refuge after being forcibly displaced from their homeland.

More than half of the camp's residents are under the age of 17, and many of the children live with the trauma of witnessing the gruesome killings of friends, neighbors and family members. For the same reason, or because they have been separated from their parents while fleeing these horrors, many of the children are orphans.

Sufaira is one of the many children in the camp who has lost their parents. She is 11 years old and has already been living here for several years. Her father died at home in Myanmar when she was just four years old and her younger sister Umaira was still in their mother's womb. That same year, the small family had to flee the bloody attacks on Rohingya villages.

Together with their grandmother, they first arrived at the Shyamlapur refugee camp in neighboring Bangladesh. They stayed here for a few months. One day, Sufaira’s mother said, "I need to pick up something from the relief center." She never came back.

Dangerous after dark

Sufaira puts a brave face forward telling her life story. It is clear that she is trying to be strong. She has to be.

Life in the camp is harsh for all children, but especially for girls. Abuse, harassment and trafficking are real daily threats, so you have to use your wits to protect yourself. For example, stick to the main roads and avoid going out after dark. This can be difficult because the self-built shelters don't have their own latrines.

DRC has been working in Cox's Bazar since 2017. Among other things, we have set up safe latrines and bathing facilities, and we have installed street lamps along the main roads to make it safer to move around after dark.

Little sister with Down's syndrome

After their mother disappeared, their grandmother took the two girls to the camp in Cox's Bazar. The three now have their own little hut, and Sufaira is a fifth grader at one of the schools in the camp. The other girls in her class have started to drop out, but Sufaira insists on continuing. She wants to become a nurse or a doctor, she says. Someone who can help elderly people like her grandmother, so they can be well and safe in their old age.

As it is, Sufaira helps her grandmother run the household and look after her younger sister Umaira, who was born with Down's syndrome. She is six years old and non-verbal - only Sufaira and to a lesser extent her grandmother can understand what she says.

Helping children cope with trauma

Efforts to monsoon-proof the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar have significantly improved safety. Nevertheless, every year, some of the camp's residents lose their homes to the floods. When this happens, we provide temporary shelter and ensure that children who have been separated from their parents or guardians receive food, dry clothing and psychological counseling.

Whenever possible, we help children reunite with their caregivers.

Many children and young people in the camp suffer from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by many violent experiences and a hard everyday life. Our highly specialized staff provide psychosocial support to help them cope with grief and trauma.

We also run what we call child-friendly spaces. Here children can play, draw and have fun in a safe environment and with caring adults. At our youth centers, the older children can enjoy social interaction and share their everyday worries.

Bathing and playing in dirty water

However, with more than half a million children and teens in the Cox's Bazar camp, the need for help and support is enormous. Thus, many children are left to fend for themselves. Unsupervised, they play along the slopes of the hilly camp and they bathe in lakes and streams made up partly of rainwater and partly of wastewater from the many households without sewerage.

The dirty water is a breeding ground for infectious mosquitoes and, combined with the lack of hygiene and health facilities, the children are at high risk of contracting malaria, dengue fever and a range of serious skin diseases.