By AFP
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
The 12-year-old Rohingya refugee dreamed of Ramadan back
in his own village -- fish to break the day's fast, gifts from his family and
relaxing beneath the trees before evening prayers at the mosque.
But for M.D. Hashim and others like him living in squalor
in Bangladesh, the start of the Islamic holy month now serves as a bitter
reminder of everything they have lost since being driven from Myanmar in an
army crackdown.
"Here, we can't afford gifts and don't have good
food... because this is not our country," Hashim told AFP on a barren
hillside in Cox's Bazar district.
The United Nations has described the army purge against
the persecuted minority as ethnic cleansing, and thousands of Rohingya Muslims
were believed to have been slaughtered in the pogrom that began last August.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled the violence for Bangladesh,
where they squat in bamboo and tarpaulin shacks on dirt slopes.
While they acknowledge that they were lucky to escape,
now, with food and money scarce and temperatures soaring, Ramadan looms as a
source of anxiety for many Rohingya.
Sitting inside a plastic tent on a blazing day, Hashim
fondly recalled the simple pleasures that made Ramadan the most exciting time
of year in his village.
Each night, friends and family would break the fast
together with fish and meat dishes cooked just once a year for the Islamic holy
month.
New clothes would be offered and sprinkled with
traditional perfumes called "attar" to mark the holiday, he
said.
"We can't do the same here, because we don't have
money. We don't have our own land. We can't earn money because we are not
allowed," Hashim said.
The Rohingya are barred from working and more than two
dozen military checkpoints restrict them from leaving what has grown into the
world's largest refugee camp.
They rely on charities for everything from food and
medicine to clothing and housing materials. Hashim must walk over an hour in
the searing heat to reach the nearest market.
- Scorching heat -
He said many young Rohingya were also anxious about
giving up food and water amid the scorching temperatures in the camp.
In the past, Hashim relished joining his friends for the
annual act of devotion, as they were able to rest in the cool shade of trees
between their chores.
"We cannot fast here like we did back in Burma
(Myanmar), because it's too hot. There are no trees," he told AFP.
"The tarpaulin is hot, and it gets hotter when the
sun is beating down. It will be very difficult."
Even so, Hashim is one of the fortunate ones, able to
celebrate with his family. Other Rohingya children will spend Ramadan not just
away from home, but alone.
Thousands crossed into Bangladesh without parents or
family, either separated in the chaos or orphaned by the violence and disease
that defined the mass exodus from Myanmar.
"Unfortunately, it will be their first Ramadan to
remember for the wrong reasons," Roberta Businaro from Save the Children
told AFP in Cox's Bazar.
"They will only have dirt and mud and dust to play
with. They will be spending a Ramadan away from their home, from their parents
and from their friends."
The Koran exempts the ill, elderly and others who cannot
fast from giving up food and water.
But despite the hardship the Rohingya would not abandon
their traditions, no matter how challenging their circumstances, said imam
Muhammad Yusuf.
"It will be difficult while the sun is so hot, but
we will still fast," Yusuf told AFP.