An Introduction to The Rohingya Refugee Crisis

What I knew before research:

The full extent of what my partner and I knew about the Rohingya is as follows: We have one student who, when asked what his home country is, would always tell me a different country. Thailand, India, Nepal, Myanmar, etc. The students would always correct me and laugh when I would refer to his country and say that wasn’t where he was from. One day he started answering the question of where he was from saying: “Everywhere!”

Eventually, I asked my mentor teacher what his home country was. I told her I figured he was trying to mess with me by always saying a different country. She asked me, “Have you ever heard of ‘Rohingya?” I said that I have not. She pulled up the Wikipedia page about this group of people and told me they were constantly displaced from different countries, and that he really did live in all of those countries. I was surprised and interested.

What I found within my research:

I first wanted to watch some videos to get a real feel for this group of people and what they are going through. I first watched a video interviewing a “Rohingya Extremist.” This was a very unsettling video. At one point, the interviewee showed the interviewer a video of him pointing a gun at children. We were unsure of the context of this video. The interviewee was trying to prove to the interviewer that he knows, and is affiliated with the leader of the militant group Harakah Al-Yakin.

The interviewee discussed that fighting with violence is the only way to live as a Rohingya right now. It’s either be killed or be killed while trying to kill them back. I assume these are the people who do not want to be displaced for being Muslim. I assume that is why they are resorting to violence rather than moving to a refugee camp.

The Rohingya man that was translating for that interview stated that he wants to be a journalist like the interviewer, but he cannot. With the situation he and his people are in, they see that they have no choice but to fight. He said only about 5% of Rohingya people he knows will not fight.

In the next video I found, a journalist visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. There were over 600,000 refugees currently in that camp. He said he felt as though it is it’s own city. It’s pretty developed, with houses and rooms for schooling (pretty developed for what he expected.) He was shocked to see how happy the people were, especially the children. At one point, he was told that a very large group of people he saw were sitting under a tent, looking not as happy. These were refugees that has just arrived a week ago. They had not yet been registered with the camp, and when they were not registered they could not eat. Other refugees and community members had been rationing their food for those people for the past week.

In this video, he interviewed a refugee man. He said he had to leave Myanmar because the men were being killed, the women were being raped, and the children were being graphically murdered. This was due to them being Muslim. The interviewee said his two brothers had been killed and he, himself, was shot in the foot amongst this chaos. He walked for two days straight to get to the refugee camp.When asked about his religion, he said he is Islam. These people barely know that other religions exist. He said Islam is all he thinks of, there is no other religion to think of. They do not blame their religion for the reason they are in the camps.

After further research I investigated the leader of Myanmar- Aung San Suu Kyi, who apparently received the Nobel Peace Prize, but is completely ignoring the fact that there is ethnic cleansing happening in her country. She thinks that people are talking about the topic too harshly without enough resources. She thinks both the Buddists and Rohingya Muslims are in danger and are both violent.

When looking for things like their art, music, literature, etc. I used search engines to get the most recent resources. I found the video of children painting, an audio clip of their music, and an article about literature written by a Rohingyan. I also found a few brief descriptions of their language of Rohingya.

4. What I Think

I can’t believe what I found. It horrifies me to hear about what these people have endured in their homes with their families, and the lifestyle they continue to endure. It also is endlessly frustrating that the leader of Myanmar, is not addressing this. I understand it is a complex situation, but I believe even just admitting that something is happening in the country and you need help to stop it, would be a good step forward.

I think it is important, as an ENL teacher, to focus on the things they enjoy about their culture and their home country, rather than the fact that they are refugees that have been through so much hardship. My students love to talk about the sports they would play, what they would eat, what music they listen to, etc. in their home country. This is what makes them happy and proud of their culture. When communicating with them and forming relationships with them, this is what we should focus on.

I do think the history of their lives is important for you to know, as a teacher. Maybe they are acting out in class, or they don’t know how to use a pencil or scissors. Maybe they never had school before or maybe they are the man/woman of the house taking care of their family. Doing research on their country and the current events will help you to piece the puzzle together of the student’s identity and their needs.

The questions I have are more of me wanting to be updated on how these events are continuing to turn out, how the leader is being held accountable, and how the refugees are holding up.

Resources I used:

Byrne, James. “Rohingya Writing as Activism: A Conversation with Mayyu Ali” World Literature Today, 3 June 2019, Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

“Rohingya Refugees Find Hope through Art.” YouTube, 1 Mar. 2018, Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

“Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi Exclusive Interview — BBC News.” YouTube, 5 Apr. 2017, Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

“BANGLADESH: Rohingya Refugee Interview.” YouTube, 14 Nov. 2017, Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

“Interview with a Rohingya Extremist.” YouTube, 6 June 2018. Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.

Vox. “The ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, Explained.” YouTube, 25 Sept. 2017, Accessed 1 Dec. 2019.