I visited Cox’s Bazar and its surrounding region in southeastern Bangladesh to witness humanitarian support activities by Madrasa Orphanage and School for girls based in Dhaka to help a number of Rohingya Refugees. Nippon Kan has been supporting Madrasa Orphanage and School for girls in Dhaka for the last 10 years, and it’s estimated that there are currently approximately 500,000 Rohingya refugees.
Issues surrounding the Rohingya people are not only extremely sensitive but deeply complicated from both tribal and religious viewpoints, and neither AHAN Nippon Kan nor I are to judge in favor of the one group over the other or be on one side or the other, especially because AHAN Nippon Kan has long been working with both Buddhists in Myanmar and Muslims in Bangladesh. What’s important is to keep firmly in our minds that victims on both sides are innocent children who don’t fundamentally understand what’s been going on around them or happening to them. During this trip, AHAN Nippon Kan made an urgent and decisive decision to donate 5 tons (over 11,000 lbs.) of rice and monetary donations while working with a U.S. based organization Project C.U.R.E. to donate medical supplies.
It’s just a matter of time for the number of Rohingya orphans to increase, and Madrasa Orphanage and School for girls is preparing for providing various relief assistance to orphans, especially orphan girls.
The Orphanage and School provides education, meals and medical care for over 300 girls who currently live there while more than 400 girls in poverty come to the school to receive education.
Cox’s Bazar and its surrounding region are seeing a massive influx of refugees to the region, and I will be taking the lead in an investigation into human trafficking in the region while working with a private humanitarian support organization.
For related articles on Bangladesh, please visit nippon-kan.org .
Note: The children in the photos are some of the children at Madrasa Orphanage and School, and none of the photos of the Rohingya people has been or will be posted. Permissions to post these photos have been obtained.
Reported from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
AHAN Nippon Kan
Founder and Kancho Gaku Homma