FLOODING, LAND SLIDES AND DENGUE FEVER

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As usual, I’ve been heavily involved talking to the Rohingya refugees and passing on the information they are sending out trying to tell the world about the dire needs they are facing. There are a multitude of needs and a multitude of people with these needs.

I will just share what the present day is in the Bangladesh camps. They have had monsoon storms that are destroying their shelters and causing flooding. At the same time half the population of over a million people are suffering from dengue fever. My friend, Niyamot whom I’ve told you about is one of those. When he is going through a crisis he writes poetry to express his pain. I will simply share his poem with you today, because it tells you everything you need to know.

My husband and I hope to donate to the Red Cross, asking for the money to go to the Rohingya effort.

Now, Niyamot’s poem – only today published on LinkedIn:

The Storm That Brought Sickness

In the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh,
1.3 million displaced Rohingya live in fragile shelters.
Now, thousands are sick. Thousands are affected.
This is not just a storm.
This is a health crisis.

The storm did not bring only strong wind.
It did not bring only loud thunder.
It did not bring only heavy rain.
It did not bring only flood.
This time, the storm brought dengue.

Now I lie sick.
My whole family is sick too.
No one comes to help.
No car or van is allowed in the camp.
If I want to go to the hospital,
I must walk far, very far.

At the hospital, no one cares much.
We wait for half a day.
Do we get proper treatment?
No, only paracetamol.

So I stay inside my small shelter.
It is broken from the strong wind,
from the landslide,
from the flood that pushed water
through my weak tarpaulin wall.

It is better to suffer here
than to be ignored somewhere else.

For three days,
I could not write,
my phone had no charge,
there was no network.
Because the storm brought many problems.

For three days,
I had no clean water.
The water system stopped.
I only drank raindrops.

Writing this poem does not mean I am better.
I am still in bed
with high fever,
strong joint pain,
body ache,
headache,
and swelling in my legs.

Ro Niyamot Ullah

Please pray for Niyamot and the many others who are affected.

marja