Background The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group in Rakhine State, on the western coast of Myanmar. Long described as the world’s ‘most persecuted minority, the UN Advisory Commission now state that the Rohingya people ‘constitute the single biggest stateless community in the world’. The Rohingya face continual anti- muslim persecution from the government of Myanmar who claim they are not a genuine ethnic group but are Bengali immigrants, whose presence is a legacy of colonial times. Since the 1940s, ongoing persecution, violent military campaigns and gross human rights abuses have caused the exile of over one million Rohingya people. Since the government passed the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya people have been denied access to citizenship and subjected to grave atrocities at the hands of the authorities and local population in Myanmar. Many groups have described the treatment of the Rohingya as genocidal, yet the international community have largely ignored their plight for many years. To escape this treatment over the decades, Rohingya refugees have made perilous journeys at sea or fled across borders, often to countries that are already impoverished and over populated, including Bangladesh. Until mid 2017, according to government estimates, Bangladesh was already hosting around 500,000 displaced Rohingya. With the UN camps at capacity by 2005, makeshift camps emerged, but conditions were poor and children had no opportunity for education. Children on the Edge worked in Kutupalong makeshift camp from 2011, providing low profile schools for 2,700 children. 2017 Refugee Crisis In August 2017, a catastrophic rise of violence and calculated ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State, forced an additional 700,000 Rohingya people into Bangladesh. Refugees fled into into the makeshift refugee camps along the border; who were ill-equipped to host thousands of traumatised new arrivals. Hundreds of thousands ended up in the Kutupalong area, where we were working. The attention this drew from the international stage and the obvious horror of what this huge influx of people have endured, prompted the Bangladeshi government to finally allow international NGOs to provide services to unregistered refugees. Life for children in Kutupalong
Children arriving in the camps were traumatised, cut off from services, and vulnerable to exploitation and disease. After generations of being marginalised, they have no expectation of the rights they deserve, no education for the future and are ill equipped to survive the daily challenges of their environment. The Strategic Executive Group Joint Response Plan (JRP) evidenced the following needs:
There is currently an estimated 902,000 Rohingya refugees living in densely populated camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and an additional 7,000 in the host communities. With 66,000 refugees packed into a square kilometre, the camp faces numerous challenges, but none larger than the lack of space. Human Rights Watch state that on average, there is just 10.7 square metres of usable space per person compared to the recommended international standard of 45 square metres per person. Carving out adequate room for a school in this environment is tremendous challenge. Click below to read how we have met this challenge and how are schools are beginning to meet the needs of 7,500 children. The 25th August 2018 marks one year since the start of the fastest growing refugee crisis in modern history. Causing suffering on a catastrophic scale, escalating violence from the Myanmar military forced over 700,000 Rohingya people over the border to Bangladesh.
Children on the Edge are committed to investing in education and stability for the Rohingya children attending their Centres, and in time hope to increase their reach to cater for larger numbers. Recognising the burden on already hard pressed host communities, they are also supporting education for Bangladeshi children in Cox’s Bazar and Rohingya children living in enclave areas outside Chittagong.
Find out more about the work we support in India, and consider getting more involved by clicking one of the action buttons below.
Following our initial humanitarian response to the Rohingya refugee situation, and alongside our provision of education for 7,500 children, we have worked in line with Bangladesh Government strategy by contributing to sustainable energy sources in the Kutupalong Balukhali camp.
The hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking safety in this country have had little choice but to overburden the surrounding jungles in the Ukhiya hills. The Bangladesh Forestry Department has stated that the weight and rate of the influx has created an environmental crisis in the border district. Stripping away 4,000 acres of dense forest land; miles of tarpaulin and dust as far as the eye can see, has now formed the largest refugee camp in the world. Ongoing fuel needs for the one million people trapped here vastly escalates this problem each day. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Forestry Officer describes how “An average 1 kg of fuelwood per person is required every day for cooking, which corresponds to 800 tonnes of fuelwood per day for the Rohingya refugees in the camps. This means that forest covering an area roughly the size of five football fields is cut every day for fuelwood”. Most staple food rations distributed here consist of lentils, beans and rice, which have to be cooked in order to be edible. Almost all families rely on small fires, often used in poorly ventilated spaces, but with prohibitive prices for market firewood, most attempt to gather it from the nearby forest. Children are often sent to collect firewood alone and, with disappearing reserves, trips of up to 12 miles each way can now take the entire day. To attempt to save firewood, some people undercook their food or skip meals. As part of our discussions with local authorities when planning our Learning Centres in the camp, we agreed to source and distribute 500 gas stoves in the surrounding areas. This has provided around 3,500 people with a sustainable means of cooking and the Centres are being used as bases to provide training to use the stoves. In addition to this, earlier in the year we provided high quality, portable solar lights to 5,250 homes. The Kutupalong-Balukhali expansion site is vast and remains mostly unlit. This heightens risks for everyone, but especially for girls and women who have often reported feeling unsafe going out after dark. As well as issues of safety and functionality at night, the lights also help to curb the use of firewood. Mohammed (pictured below) and his family used to build a fire to try and create some light in the evenings, but the wood was too expensive and smoke poured into the shelter. Since he’s been using the light he has said “It’s better for my family. Now we can cook and clean in the evening, it gives light to the whole room”. We have recently planted shrubs and flowers in the grounds outside each Learning Centre to begin to grow green oasis areas for the children within the barren landscape of the camp. In time we are hoping to grow vegetables in these spaces and raise funds for solar powered fans to cool the atmosphere inside. Child Protection Teams become go-to groups for reuniting lost children with their families13/7/2018
In the last few months, Child Protection Teams in Uganda have been called upon by police to trace two families of children stranded at local stations.
Watch this space for more news from the Centres.
The tent school teachers we support in Lebanon have been increasingly observing how Syrian refugee children in their classes struggle with creativity in their writing. Staff reported how “When learning their own Arabic language in Syria, teaching tends to focus on grammar and not on creative storytelling”. One activity to address this was introduced by a visiting volunteer, who used an old, crumpled ten dollar note. She asked the children where they thought she had got it from and talked about how, judging by how it looked, it must have had a very long journey. She then passed it to one of the children and encouraged them to make up a story about where they had got it, the background of who had owned it before, and how they might have earned it. The latest field report from staff stated how “This was a great way of encouraging out-of-the-box thinking in writing. Creative, imaginative thinking is a new concept to so many of our students. We’ve also noticed in the Syrian culture, they don’t often read books or stories”. To encourage a love of stories, two ‘storytelling training sessions’ have been held for all the teachers. They then got the chance to practice what they had learned and tell stories to their classes in teams. The students enjoyed giving feedback on their storytelling abilities, and discussions were had about how using adjectives can generate excitement in writing, in the same way a film builds tension with background music. Teachers say how “Reading stories is really helpful in capturing the students’ attention and encouraging them to read and learn about different people and contexts”. To develop this, the older children have been visiting a newly established library, to choose a book each week and help with the upkeep. Every Friday, the class reports on what they have borrowed, reviewing each book and describing if and why they would recommend it. The younger classes also take turns talking to their friends about the stories they have read.
We're looking for 10 individuals who love a challenge, to join our Children on the Edge Tough Mudder team. The team will need to take on the infamous Tough Mudder Half on the 22nd September 2018, at Holmbush Farm and help fundraise for our work with vulnerable children around the world. What is Tough Mudder? The Tough Mudder Half is a 5-mile, mud covered course with 13 epic obstacles, designed to put your strength, stamina and mental grit to the test. The London South Tough Mudder offers a uniquely challenging experience, designed by engineers who trek the globe looking for creative and testing obstacles, meaning that no two Tough Mudder courses are the same. Team work is key You’ll also need teamwork and camaraderie to make it through the muddy challenge, so be sure to choose your Children on the Edge team mates wisely. It could be formed of friends, family or work colleagues; all we ask is you commit to fundraising a minimum of £250 each for the work we do. Why take on Tough Mudder for Children on the Edge? As part of the Children on the Edge Team you’ll be getting muddy to help support some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Children on the Edge exists to help marginalised and forgotten children, who are living on the edge of their societies. These are children without parental care, neglected or persecuted by their governments, ignored by international media and missed by large overseas agencies. We work to support these children in realising their rights and to restore the ingredients of a full childhood generating hope, life, colour and fun.
You won’t be alone in your fundraising because we’ll be supporting you every step of the way. We’ll also provide you with a fundraising pack full of ideas to maximise your sponsorship. As an extra reward for your hard work on the day, the Children on the Edge Tough Mudder Team will receive lots of goodies including; a finishers T-shirt, a free lunch and for our top fundraisers we’ll be sharing some of our Mini-Mudder passes, for children to take part in their very own Mini-Mudder course. If you think you have what it takes for this muddy challenge and can help restore hope, life, colour and fun to the children we support, then apply here. |
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