“Remember us in prayer because our conditions are very bad.” –Rohingya refugee
A burst of smoke, a flash of light, and thousands of bits of shrapnel in one dizzying instant. Pain shot through Ahmed’s* body as he saw only a stump where his left leg had been. He’d unknowingly stepped on a landmine planted by one of the many militias fighting in Myanmar’s civil war.
There were no clinics available nearby to provide the medical attention his mangled leg so desperately needed. It was four months later when Ahmed finally hobbled into the CAM-supported medical clinic in Bangladesh. Bone still protruded from his mutilated stump.
Clinic staff arranged surgery for Ahmed and spent many hours changing his dressings. One afternoon, they prepared a special gift for Ahmed. His eyes lit up with joy when he caught sight of the pair of crutches.
People without a home
Ahmed is one of thousands of Rohingya refugees whose lives have been upended by violence in Myanmar they had no part in.
Ongoing conflict between the primarily Buddhist Myanmar government and the Muslim Rohingya ethnic group erupted into a genocide in 2017. Refugees vividly remember as Myanmar’s police and military moved from village to village, killing and abusing Rohingya people in an effort to force them out of Myanmar. Scenes of killing and torture are forever etched in their minds.
As refugees poured over the river dividing Myanmar from Bangladesh, the water turned murky red with the blood of thousands of dead and wounded Rohingya people. Most of them took refuge in a nature preserve which quickly became the world’s largest refugee camp. Although most Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh in 2017, civil war in Myanmar has forced Ahmed and many others to flee the country more recently.
Bangladesh does not allow Rohingya people to build permanent houses or become citizens of Bangladesh and imposes many other restrictions to ensure the Rohingya people do not make the country their permanent home. Myanmar remains hostile to the
Rohingya people, and other nations accept only small numbers of refugees. They remain trapped with no country on earth willing to receive them.
Medical care for the Rohingya
After the genocide in 2017, CAM partnered with an Anabaptist organization to start a clinic in southeastern Bangladesh to help sick, injured, and diseased refugees. Since then the need for medical care has increased as some of the other medical centers have closed or face reduced access to medicines.
Medical care provides an excellent opportunity to share the love of Jesus with these people who have suffered so much. For most patients, the clinic staff are the first Christians they’ve ever met. Even with other clinics in the refugee camp, some refugees walk several hours to visit the clinic led by Christians because they sometimes face harassment at other medical centers. One man shared,
“When I come here and experience respect and good care, I don’t need any medicine. I feel better already!”
Your support will be used to provide medicines and medical treatment among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Some funds may also be used for other needs among the Rohingya people. Thank you and may God bless you!
