Many Rohingya parents suffer from trauma of losing their children in overcrowded refugee camps

After losing their homes back in Rakhine in an army crackdown in Myanmar, many Rohingyas parent are now going through another trauma as they have lost their children in the melee of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Bangladesh.

Over 400 children have been reported missing from different camps.

Some of them found their children with the help of a security guard, Kamal Hossain, who has arranged a loudspeaker to announce lost and found children. Kamal works for the Handicap International.

Sona Mia and Razia Akter from Nurulla Parha in Myanmar left their homeland on Sept 10 and took shelter at one of the shanties for newly arrived refugees at Kutupalong in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

As Mia was preparing for the Jum'a prayers on Friday, Razia was busy with cooking. She had planned to bathe their children, at least their youngest son, two-year-old Sagit Uddin for the infections grew on his skin during the walking journey to Bangladesh.

Photo: muhammad mostafigur rahman

At one stage of her work with little supply, she found that little Sagit was missing.

With the clock ticking, Razia was getting more and more anxious as she could not find the toddler nearby.

After two hours, she went to Kamal's security post at the entrance of the new refugee camp, some 25-minute walk from her shanty.

 

As Kamal was announcing on finding a lost child, Razia rushed to the place with hope to see little Sagit there.

She stopped with shock, seeing another child on the small dais Kamal raised at the place.

When Kamal took a break, Razia could hear the well-known voice of her son crying next to the dais.

But not everyone was as lucky as Razia.

Mohammad Rafique was still searching for his little daughter Asma on Thursday, four days after losing her.

He was spending 16 to 17 hours a day in the search, neglecting his other hungry children.

A boy, Shafiul, brought his 5-year old brother to Bangladesh after losing their parents to the atrocities in Myanmar.

Photo: muhammad mostafigur rahman

A private TV channel covered Shafiul's story, but to no avail; his brother was yet to be traced until Saturday. An NGO, which has sheltered Shafiul, was also searching for his brother.

The bdnews24.com correspondent met many quite a number of families who lost their children in crowded camps and its surroundings.

Kamal Hossain said he was making the announcement on his own first after noticing that many of the children were loitering around, apparently lost. Later, UNHCR provided him with a loudspeaker. Handicap International has granted him leave for making the announcements.

He said 410 cases of missing or found children were reported at his place from Sept 5 to 14.

A total of 129 could be found through his announcements, he said.

"Many might have forgotten to inform us after finding their children on their own. But I guess many others are yet to find their children. Besides this, many are coming daily to see if their children have been found," Kamal told bdnews24.com.

Photo: muhammad mostafigur rahman

Shirin Sultana, Adviser to the Head of Delegation at International Committee of the Red Cross in Bangladesh, said her organisation was working to help the refugees find the disconnected members of their families.

"We will make a database of the lost people, and take steps to find the lost children through coordination with all," she said.