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| The Chaung Refugee Camp in Sittwe (Photo - Nirupama Subramanian ) |
Vivian Tan
UNHCR
December 18, 2012
SITTWE, Myanmar – Six months ago, 55-year-old Misho was contemplating an
early retirement. Today, all she wants is a roof over her head. She is
one of the tens of thousands of people whose lives were uprooted when
inter-communal violence broke out in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in
June.
"I was cooking in the afternoon when people started shouting 'Fire!
Fire!'" she recalls of that fateful day. "I ran out without slippers and
cut my feet in a field that had broken glass. We spent the night in a
mosque. I thought I was going to die of fright."
Overnight, the Muslim widow lost her eight-year job as a cook and
cleaner with a local Rakhine family. She also lost the food stall she
ran on the side, and the egg-laying chickens she raised. Her worldly
possessions now consist of a blanket and sleeping mat, while home is a
tent she shares with her daughter in The Chaung camp on the outskirts of
the state capital, Sittwe.
"It's cold at night and I don't have an extra set of clothes," Misho
says, before acknowledging, "We were lucky to come here early, because
later there was no more space."
Recent arrivals include those who fled renewed unrest in October as well
as displaced people who had been living with host families that could
no longer sustain them. Those who don't fit into existing camps have
been erecting makeshift shelters by the side of the road.
As the lead organization for protection, shelter, camp coordination and
camp management under the inter-agency response to this emergency, UNHCR
has been working with the government to find suitable land to set up
tents for these groups.
"The first priority is to make sure there is shelter for everyone," said
Maeve Murphy, who heads UNHCR's office in Sittwe. "And as camps are
being set up, we work with the authorities to try and make sure they
adhere to international standards, particularly from the shelter
perspective."
In addition to the tented camps around Sittwe, UNHCR is also building
263 temporary shelters this year using bamboo walls and corrugated iron
roofs. Each longhouse-style shelter can accommodate eight families.
Kyaw Hla, 58, is the camp administrator at Hpwe Yar Kone camp and lives
in a government-built longhouse with 20 of his family members. While the
shelter is adequate, other services are lacking in this location 45
minutes' drive from Sittwe. He wishes food rations could be distributed
closer to the camp
and laments the fact that his family has not eaten meat or fish since
June.
The women in this camp say they need proper bathing areas, hygiene
materials, and cooking pots which they're using communally at the
moment.
Noting that some staff working for NGOs are hesitant to work in certain
locations amid continuing communal tensions, UNHCR's Murphy said, "We're
continually advocating for better water sources, more sanitation
facilities with individual bathing houses for women and for mobile
clinics to provide health care."
In another longhouse-style camp called Ma Gyi Myaing, the basic services
are in place but 61-year-old Ngine Saw Htet is still losing sleep. He
mourns over his charred house, where only four pillars remain, and the
loss of his battery-charging shop that drew both Muslim and indigenous
Rakhine customers.
"The first 10 days I couldn't sleep," he said with furrowed brows. "Now
I'm slowly recovering, but I still feel afraid when it's quiet. And I
worry about the future. I have no job, no income. With no financial
support, I cannot start a business. My family is fully dependent on
assistance."
Over in The Chaung tented camp, Misho shares the same concerns. "I spend
most of my time here praying," she says. "I pray that I can go home as
soon as possible, that I can have a safe and proper house, that I can
work again. I pray for peace with the Rakhine people, to live peacefully
with my neighbours."
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