Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Month: August 2025 (page 1 of 2)

. . . and yet the children play

Photo by Nur Sadaque . . . AND YET LIFE CONTINUES THE CHILDREN HEAR . . . BUT STILL THEY PLAY “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3) Children listen. They hear their parents’ stories. But they know how to live for today, doing what children best know how to […]

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Please give our children freedom, dignity, and a future

Photo by Nur Sadaque A MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD FROM A ROHINGYA REFUGEE Written by Khair Ullah, editor of Rohingytographer.org Being a Rohingya refugee means carrying endless pain and struggle. Our lives are full of humiliation, discrimination and suffering that never seems to end. We are denied the rights that every human deserves like the […]

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We suffer, we grieve, but we survive

Photo by Rohim Ullah Photo by Maung Myint Swe We Rohingya men, women, and children—the old and the young—are crying: “When will we have the comfort of a real home again—a home of our own? A place of safety. A place where we belong and can find security?” These are questions that face Rohingya every […]

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How long must we suffer?

Photo by Mohammed Imran   And then there are the fires . . .not uncommon in Rohingya camps. “The earth suffers countless wounds, The Rohingya and the poor live in fear and pain.” (Ro Niyamot Ullah)    

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When a shelter is destroyed

Photo by Ro Niyamot Ullah BUILDING ON A FIRM FOUNDATION Rohingya living in the refugee camps in Bangladesh know all about how rains, wind, and flooding can destroy make-shift homes. The Rohingya Green Nature Society reported how the recent Monsoon floods devastated the Rohingya camps. “Over 12,000 individuals were affected, 2,800+ shelters destroyed, and 50+ […]

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Our homes are not safe

Photo by Ro Arfat Kahn In Bangladesh Rohingya refugees live in shelters intended to be temporary homes. But the shelters are not safe places to live. They are certainly not the comfortable homes so many of us in the western world enjoy. In the words of RB Hafizu: “As Rohingya refugees, we survive with limited […]

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The exodus

EXODUS Everyone did what they could to find safety–young and old. They were grateful for the food, shelter, and protection provided by Bangladesh, a country with great needs of its own. In an area called Cox’s Bazar, they created communities made up of a sprawling network of 33 camps. With a population of over a […]

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But they clung to their faith and traditions

They fled with everything they could carry in their arms, leaving behind their homes and the lives they had built. But they didn’t leave behind their faith and traditions. Telling the Rohingya about the great love Jesus had for those the world had turned its back on reminds me of a song I used to […]

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The story must be heard

I have been closely following the Rohingya story since February 2025, hearing through LinkedIn the reports from Rohingya refugees themselves as well as multiple news stories about them. Stories about the suffering of a people who have, for decades, faced some of the worst discrimination the world has seen. They are stories that haven’t reached […]

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We want to learn. We want a future.

  Photo and story by Rohingya refugee, Rohim Ullah Inside the Rohingya Refugee Camps, Education Is Being Kept Alive by the Children Themselves In a cramped tarpaulin shelter in the Rohingya refugee camp of Cox’s Bazar, a group of children gathered together on the bare ground. There are no whiteboards, no floor mats, no electricity. […]

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