In July 2023, I began working in the Kutapalong Field Hospital (KTP) project, the Balukhali Specialised Outpatient Department (SOPD) project, and the Unchiprang Primary Healthcare (UMS) clinic as flying mental health activity manager. MSF is the largest mental health provider in this refugee mega camp. The number of potential patients can be quite overwhelming, when you realise you're responsible for tens of thousands of traumatised Rohingya refugees living across 33 separate camps.
Since their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017, opportunities for a better life have dwindled further for the Rohingya. The camps’ shelters that they live in were made to be temporary, but after seven years of a lack of maintenance and natural disasters, their living conditions have slipped from hopefulness to a profound sense of hopelessness.
Living in limbo
The mega camps have been impacted by terrible weather events, including cyclone Mocha in 2023 which caused a lot of damage. There are regular destructive fires, accidental and arson. A big fire in 2021 left 45,000 people homeless and burned important infrastructure, including the physical and mental health clinics at the MSF Balukhali project. The mental health and sexual and reproductive health clinics continued operating after the fire, only moving to new facilities in early 2024.
A big challenge for the refugees was the reduction in the World Food Program nutrition allowance from $12 to $8 a month per person. People were at starvation level. After a huge outcry the allowance was increased to $10, but food prices had increased significantly. The allowance was recently raised to $11.50. For many of the refugees all of these stressful events have compounded their past traumatic experiences into complex post-traumatic stress, a serious condition for which the road to recovery requires a safe and peaceful environment. Unfortunately, this is still not available.
Many of the Rohingya refugees fear for the future, causing anticipatory trauma with recurring thoughts of ‘What is going to happen to us? We have been stuck here for seven years without any signs of improvement in Myanmar or Bangladesh. We want to return to our country, to our lands and homes as recognised citizens and full members of the Myanmar society.’