Child journalists cover curiosity-enhancing first field assignment on Rohingya children

Some of them have just left school and are preparing to enrol at college while the others are still school students, but they have spent their first full day as journalists in different Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 19 Nov 2017, 08:23 PM
Updated : 19 Nov 2017, 09:30 PM

They are enlisted as child journalists in the world’s first dedicated Bangla news website for children, ‘Hello’, which sent them to different Rohingya camps to chase untold stories.

After a short training, they went to the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, where experienced journalists from across the globe have descended to cover the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

On the first assignment at Rohingya camps.

Later, the group of 20 child journalists shared their experience about the camp visit at a discussion titled 'Rohingya Children Under Threat' at Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort on Sunday ahead of the Universal Children’s Day with support from UN children’s agency UNICEF.

They found mismanagement and also talked about what they would do, if given the opportunity, to end the inefficiency in the camps.

At training of 'Hello'.

The 20 child journalists, picked up from 350 students of the institutions in Cox’s Bazar, visited Balukhali and Kutupalong refugee camps on Saturday after a day of training on journalism and videography under Hello’s supervision.

Responding to a question by bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi, who moderated the discussion in Cox's Bazar, child journalist Jannatul Nayeem Zerin said she spoke to a Rohingya boy who arrived at the camp on Friday.

At training of 'Hello'.

He and his parents had stayed back in Myanmar while his sister and her husband had crossed the border into Bangladesh when the on-going exodus started.

“His sister and brother-in-law called them on phone and asked them to come over to Bangladesh. The couple told them that there was a good supply of relief and other facilities in Bangladesh,” Jannatul said.

“He crossed the border with his parents after the conversations, though they were not in such a bad condition that would make them to leave their country,” she said. 

At training of 'Hello'.

Another child journalist, Ashikur Rahman, said he met a boy who was working at a tea shop for Tk 2,500 per month.

“The child said the people of Bangladesh are better when I asked him which country has been good to him. He said he would stay back even if everyone else leaves here.

“He said the people of Bangladesh are feeding them, not beating them up,” Ashikur said.

But, Moriom Akter Nupur’s experience was different. A number of Rohingya families told her that they wanted to return once the situation in Myanmar improves.

At the discussion.

The students between classes VII and XII were given different issues to cover on their first assignment, but their minds went beyond the assigned topics when they hit the ground - like a professional journalist.

They saw the distribution of relief materials, availability of emergency medical services, water and sanitation crises and spread of communicable diseases.

At the discussion.

They later discussed deforestation, uncertainty over the education of the Rohingya children, fear of the spread of AIDS, the misery of teen mothers, and lack of medical help for children who suffered from traumatic experience during the army crackdown in Myanmar and on the way to Bangladesh.

They recounted the first day of the journalistic experience enthusiastically.

Sharing views at the discussion.

AM Sakil Faizullah spoke at the discussion on behalf of UNICEF.

Hello, which produces stories by children for children, was launched on Mar 31, 2013. Children and adolescents are involved in every step of the process, from news gathering to distribution.

Hello is the result of a joint initiative between Bangladesh’s largest news publisher bdnews24.com and UNICEF.

Posing for a photo with Toufique Imrose Khalidi and AM Sakil Faizullah.

Children under the age of 17 are trained in journalism to reflect children’s opinions and aspirations in mainstream media

Thus far, over 7,000 children and teenagers have worked with Hello, according to its Executive Editor Mujtaba Hakim Plato.