CARE exhibition depicts resilience of refugee women

CARE Bangladesh has organised a daylong exhibition in the capital Dhaka depicting resilience of refugee women.

The event took place at Jatra Biroti Gallery in Banani on Tuesday, according to a press release.

The exhibition titled “194 Days of the Myanmar Refugee Crisis - Respecting Women: Faces and Stories of Resilience” marks International Women’s Day and the six months of the refugee crisis in Bangladesh.

Representatives from the United Nations and national and international NGOs, including Danish Ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther and UNDP Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mia Seppo, attended the event.

CEO of CARE Austria Dr Barschdorf-Hager Andrea, CEO of CARE Denmark Rasmus Stuhr Jakobsen, CARE International’s Head of Emergency Operations Sally Austin, and Deputy Director (Operations/Humanitarian Team) CARE USA Dawelbait Elnour Mohamed Adam were among the guests.

“I want to reflect on the refugee women who took on the most disproportionate amount of duty and burden during this crisis. They are taking care of family, collecting food, providing shelter, collecting relief; and doing all of this with positivity despite the chaos all around,” Zia Choudhury, country director of CARE Bangladesh, said in his address to the event.

Since Aug 25, nearly 700,000 people from Myanmar have crossed into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh following violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state; making this exodus one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.

Over 880,000 refugees are now living in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s most densely populated refugee settlement by now.

The photo exhibition organised to observe International Women’s Day showcased different roles that women play.

In times of any crisis, women are known to be the lifeline to sustain family life’s balance.

They look after household chores and children, while doing outside work confidently; like collecting relief, firewood, fetching water, securing shelter and seeking required medical and other services for themselves and their children.

Another objective of the exhibition is to pay homage to the staff of CARE and supporting organisations for their hard work over the last six months to make the refugees’ lives better, CARE Bangladesh has said in a statement.