This Ramzan, what are the Rohingya kids praying for?

HARDA (SOUTH 24 PARGANAS): Seven-year-old Md Farhan is excited. The little one – dressed in an almost-spotless white kurta, pyjama and skull cap - runs down the narrow alley between the twin-blocks inside the small Rohingya camp in Baruipur that houses 50 refugees. He is in a rush to inform his dozen-odd friends from the camp about getting Eid gifts.
The twenty children in the camp – which is over 5,330 km away from Myanmar - are thrilled.They might be too young to observe roza but understand the pleasure of getting new clothes. Seven-year-old Asma Khatoon dreams of going to the local market, being asked to choose from the blue and pink-coloured frocks on display at the shops and finally choosing a red one for herself.
But being refugees stationed at a camp doesn’t allow this luxury. She has to be content with the hand-me-downs. “These are nice but I’d like to get new ones for Eid,” Asma confesses. That’s why she is thrilled to bits hearing that Hossain Gazi, who runs the NGO Desh Bachao Samajik Committee and had been facilitating the settlement of Rohingyas in Bengal, has gone to Metiabruz to buy clothes for them.
Seven-year-old Md Farhan
But for elders, excitement doesn’t come easy. Fifty five-year-old Zubeda Khatoon is still too bruised. She had lost her husband, two daughters and son before fleeing her village. Both Zubeda and her daughter, who stay in the camp, are widowed. Memories of the last Eid with the whole family in Myanmar haunt the duo this Ramzan. Sharing the past hurts, she says, wiping her eyes.
Meanwhile, wails of six-month-old Rumana Akhtar from another room get distracting. Her mother – Moumina Akhtar – was pregnant when their house in Segambara village in the Rakhine state was set ablaze. She had walked through forests and crossed the Naf river to Bangladesh, stayed over for some time before crossing over to India and moving to Haryana. Rumana was born in Haryana. “This is my first Ramzan in Bengal. I wake up at 2 am to do sehri,” she says, while feeding flattened rice soaked in water to her elder son.
What does she have for her pre-dawn meal? “The affluent can have paya soup, nalli nihari and feni. But my husband works as a labourer in Kolkata. We can only afford rice,” Moumina says. For Eid, she doesn’t have any prayers for herself but for her children.
Last year, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) had moved the Supreme Court over the rights of the Rohingya children. WBCPCR chairperson Ananya Chakraborti says the case is still sub judice. Moumina is optimistic. “I’m only hoping that the children get valid proofs so that they can go to proper schools here,” she says.
Eighteen-year-old Kauser Biwi
Opposite their house stays Yasmida along with her two sons. “I am fasting and praying for my children’s well-being. Besides, I’m praying to get some tailoring orders. Of late, that number has dipped substantially,” Yasmida says, standing beside her unused sewing machine.
Few months back, 18-year-old Kauser Biwi – who fled her Bochidong village without having time to look for her family – got married to another refugee. During Ramzan, Kauser is praying for the safety of her parents. “God knows where they are,” she says, holding a bowl with some soaked dates.
Not everyone at the camp is lucky to have dates for iftar, says 31-year-old Zahid Hossein who lost his father and elder brother before he fled with his four kids. “I break my fast with puffed rice and grams. My prayers are about getting support in India to live in safety,” Zahid says. For twenty-year-old Hafeez Tahir, life is slowly going back on track. A teacher in Myanmar, the devout Hafeez has been roped in by Gazi to teach Arabic to the boys from this camp and others from Ghutiari Sharif. “Now, I earn Rs 7,000 a month,” he says. Hafeez, like the newly-married Kauser and the bereaved Zahid in the camp, is praying that he never has to return to his burnt home in Myanmar.