World Refugee Day 2007

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So leaving you on tenterhooks was not my intention.....but for one reason and another (and another, and another!) I haven't been able to write this blog until now. So here it is...just exactly what happened on that bright sunny day...

We had prayed for no rain. Everyone in the office had variously anti-rain danced, consulted weather maps, held wet fingers in the sky with serious expressions, studied the clouds and pretended to phone Allah from the office. Something must have worked (maybe the direct line to God?) because when 20th June dawned, it was not only a sunny day...it was the opposite of rain. For those who aren't used to different degrees of scorching, the opposite of rain is virtually cloudless. The sun is so hot and bright that the air itself becomes hard to look at. All colours instensify and your vision swims with the heatwaves. Rays pour onto you and soak you with sweat, tanning you in a dangerous instant. In simple language, it's really really hot. Well, we could hardly complain!

The day started early. The plan was for there to be a program of events in each camp (different competitions like marathon skipping (in the sun, til you drop), Koran recitation, extreme embroidery, drama and musical performances, as well as traditional snack making) into which the grand show of refugee speakers and celebrity singers would be inserted (Nayapara camp in the morning, Kutupalong in the afternoon). We UNHCR staff were put into 3 teams of 6 - one for each camp and one to travel between with the convoy of celebrities and dignitaries as interpreters and making-sure-things-were-smooth-ers. I was one of the latter, not for my linguistic skills, but for being one of the organisers and one who knew all the refugee speakers in both camps (and for being young and smiling sweetly).

9am found us in Nayapara camp, after the 2 hour journey down there. Crowds of refugee children pressed against the car, peering through the windows to catch a glimpse of their hero - the pop rock legend Ayub Bachu. Seeing the familiar UNHCR faces they became less hysterical and let us out into the crowds, where we were carried towards the stage, blending in with everyone else in our smurfy-blue World Refugee Day T-shirts.

Having been instrumental in finding the refugee speakers, I was partly responsible officially (and wholly concerned personally) for getting the speakers to the stage. Once there, the rest was up to them. In the end 3 of the 7 spoke. In Kutupalong it was a slightly improved 4 out of 7. Don’t get me started on refugee representation. I still haven’t sorted it all out in my head. Let’s just say that it will clearly take more than this first year for the mental shift required that gives refugees a true voice, without fear of the consequences. This is partly because Bangladesh is in a State of Emergency and political discussion is illegal under emergency laws. In this atmosphere of heightened security, what constitutes such discussion has been redefined. On World Refugee Day, it was a sensitive issue in an already incredibly sensitive environment. Mix in a group of refugee speakers, who for years have been persecuted from all sides (stuck between ‘a hammer and an anvil’ as a Human Rights Watch report termed it - the hammer being Myanmar, the anvil being the previously unmoving Bangladesh. Or, as one refugee boy famously said in an MSF report ‘we’re caught between a crocodile and a snake’…), and the levels of official expectation and tension were greatly increased. There’s a fine line to walk between the refugee voice and the officials who may not like what they hear. There needs to be strategy from the refugees’ side as to what they say…bulldozing in and bringing up the past just won’t affect support for change in the future. These people have suffered greatly since 1992, but in recent years things have improved dramatically. Still, it’s hard to focus on the future, however much sense it makes, when old wounds are still open and part of the healing process is to let it all out, preferably to an audience. That didn’t happen, but the potential for it hung in the air and in the end spoiled the moment. I have nearly come to accept and appreciate that at least some refugees were heard, given the (somewhat) understandable circumstances. The anger has dissipated (maybe I’m just the hot-headed idealistic intern!) but the disappointment lingers on…. One thing’s for sure, you certainly know the value of free speech when it’s absent (not least in this blog!).

Anyway you gotta accentuate the positives to eliminate the negatives (this is a very 'silver-lining job!).....

After the speeches, came the moment we'd all been waiting for - The Rock Concert!

And rock it did. Farhana, Bangladesh's pop idol winner and a local girl with one heck of a determination to succeed started off the proceedings with a couple of numbers in the local Chittagonian dialect...a thoughtful touch the refugees still talk about. Her amazing voice belted out from the stage, with the help of some state of the art massive speakers, and was met with utter surprise from the crowd followed by whoops and jumps and smiles all round. It was like something had been released that day. The lid on the cage was opened and for the first time the people looked up and saw what life could be. A refugee guy told me afterwards it was the first day of total freedom in the camp.

Next up was Partha Parua (‘Barto Borrowa’) and his groovy band ‘Souls’, which has been on the go since the 70s with regular reincarnations, producing many of Bangladesh’s solo artists, including Ayub Bachu. They sang their funky numbers to the crowds, including what has become an office favourite, - the ‘Iona’ song (see video!). In translation, the song is an ode to tourists to Bangladesh…something like ‘Come, come to our land, you are welcome and we have nothing but love for you’. They’d chosen to sing it for its message to the refugees. In fact, all the 3 artists had put so much thought into what they sang - Ayub Bachu, up next, sang a song entitled ‘waiting’, in recognition of the Rohingya refugee’s past 15 years doing just that.

The man of the day was the Bachu-meister himself - Mr Ayub Bachu to be precise (if misspelled!). This legend of ‘LRB’ the Little River Band (or Love Runs Blind), eclectic cowboy crooner and guitar player extraordinaire strode onto stage to adoring multitudes…who, on cue, went wild. Under the blazing sun, they danced to his tunes…reveling in the moment, the heat, that chance to forget all the suffering and simply be lost in the music. Bangladesh’s most famous singer had come to the camp. The Rohingyas felt recognized and validated for the first time in a long long time. And that perhaps should over-ride any disappointment or struggle about a few people left unheard. A week later I was speaking to a Japanese ex-staff member who had returned for a visit. She had been a field officer in 2004/5 and was utterly amazed at what has changed since then. On her World Refugee day, she fought, and lost, the right for the refugees to perform a simple drama. By locating this World Refugee day in the grand scheme of the past 15 years it was amazing - a crazy, reinventing the box day, that put the ‘refugee’ into world refugee day. One small step from the outside, one giant step from within.

I could bang on about how good I felt that day…how much I restrained myself from dancing improperly before giving in and doing it anyway, how much I smiled and shrieked and sweated, how much I laughed with Jahida, Mustafa and the rest of the speakers, how gutted and responsible I felt when some lost the chance to speak, but overall how happy I was to see everyone else so wild and released under that wide blue sky, and they were happy with me… and the camp, for once, was one.

But much more important, is how the refugees felt. So to give you the wider picture, the fuller meaning of that day, I leave you with quotes I jotted down from conversations we had with refugees in the days after the big one…………..


Nayapara

‘This World Refugee Day we realized how bright our future might/will be’
- Rushit Ahammed, 32 years

‘It was very good. It brought peace to the camp’
- Halima, 35 yrs

‘It gave me hope that refugee problems will be solved’
- Hadayet, 28 yrs

‘Seeing refugees giving speeches alongside officials was such a positive and clear sign that things are changing’
- Aman Ullah, 30 yrs

‘I was so happy because of the stars and Aybu Bachu’
- Jafar Alum, 10 yrs

‘We had never seen such dancing and singing before. We enjoyed it so much and I imagined our community being like that one day’
- Rukia Begum, 18 yrs

‘It was a very very happy day’
- Noor Hawa, 16 yrs

‘We saw things we’d never seen before in our lives. I was even happier than at Eid!’
- Ayesha Begum, 25 yrs

‘We’ve been living here for 15 years and have seen many World Refugee Days, but none like this one’
- Belal Hossein, 20 yrs

‘I discussed the day with my neighbours; most of the men liked Ayub Bachu best, but the women loved Farhana because she sang in our language’
- Belal Hossein, 20 yrs

‘This year UNHCR really proved what capacity they have and what they can do’
- Kobir Mohammed, 40 yrs

‘They sang beautifully’ (said in English!)
- Mohammed Faruq, 8 yrs


‘All the people are saying now that the UNHCR is trying hard to restore peace in the camps’
- Amir Hossein, 36 yrs



Kutupalong

‘Look around you. All these people - men, women, the elderly and children -they will all remember this day for the rest of their lives. We never ever imagined that such a thing could happen in our camp. It’s unbelievable that Ayub Bachu is here.’
Monzoor, 19 yrs


‘I went there with my baby. It was such a happy time’
- Toyoba Begum, 20yrs

‘We never dreamed that Ayub Bacchu would come to our camps. It was beyond our wildest expectations. It was an amazing opportunity to see him.’
- Nezam, 20 yrs


‘I felt like Farhana was one of us and that if we got the opportunity, we could also be like her’
- Jahida, 23 (Speaker on WRD 2007)

‘The activities on 20th June changed the mental attitudes of the refugees - it’s crucial for our community to do more things like this in the future!’
- Nezam, 20yrs

‘Last year was so-so, this year was amazing’
- Rahmat Ullah, 30 yrs

‘On that day, when the music started playing, I felt really young in my mind’
- Mohammed Hossein, 50 yrs

‘Many 20th Junes have passed, but not like this!’
- Khalida Begum, 12 yrs (Speaker on WRD 2007)

‘Ayub Bachu was there and we enjoyed sooo much!’
- Mohammed Idris, 10 yrs

‘Oh yes I danced! I didn’t understand the songs, but I danced anyway’
Ali Hossein, 45 yrs

‘This year was great, but we hope these activities can continue in the future so our younger brothers and sisters can feel like we did that day. It’s important for us for the future’
- Rahmat Ullah, 30 yrs

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Comments

[kalsang]

hey sup?
hey, that's one hella reportage of the world refugee day from Bangla. such a great or more important happy event truly deserves a good report like yours. thumps up, Iona. keep writing and keep up the good work you are doing for these refugees. i also enjoyed the photos.

[Vix]

Wow
Your writing is really flowing. It's so interesting! I'm glad you're my friend so I can say you're mine. I love you Yonkster and don't you forget that. Even if you are spending time with needy refugee children rather than me (yeah...can't really complain about that one can I?) Love you. You're the best and one day you'll be a famous writer bringing hidden injustices into view.