Rohingya community volunteers protecting the most vulnerable

Above: With the assistance of an Oxfam community volunteer, Shabera was able to request a toilet in her home to improve accessibility. Photo: Oxfam Bangladesh

Shabera Begum, a 40-year-old Rohingya woman with paraplegia, proudly sits in front of the new toilet in her home at Camp 4. Following the deaths of her mother in 2021 and her sister Ayesha in 2022, Shabera was left alone without anyone to assist her with basic needs such as eating, dressing herself, and bathing.

Because she couldn't use the communal camp toilets on her own, Shabera resorted to not eating in order to avoid needing to use the toilet. However, with the help of Rehana, a volunteer from Oxfam's protection team, Shabera successfully requested assistance from the camp management to have her own toilet built in her home.

"I am incredibly happy to have my own toilet now, which has made my life much easier. I wouldn't have been able to achieve this without the help I received from Rehana, the Oxfam protection community-based volunteer," Shabera said.

Oxfam's protection work in the overcrowded Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, aims to enhance the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of communities. To accomplish this, Oxfam engages with community members, monitors protection risks, and facilitates referral pathways for basic services and legal assistance. This work is supported through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership response in Bangladesh.

Every month, Oxfam's community-based volunteers (CBVs) connect Rohingya community members to services through door-to-door household visits. These efforts help safeguard vulnerable Rohingya individuals from violence, coercion, and deprivation.

For Shabera, the volunteer support has been crucial.

Shabera escaped the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar in 2017, along with her mother and her younger sister Ayesha, who was 11 at the time. Shabera personally witnessed horrifying violence in her village, a consequence of the military campaign against the Rohingya. Within a week, her entire village had fled to Bangladesh to seek refuge. Due to Shabera's mobility limitations, her neighbours carried her on their shoulders using a makeshift swing made of bamboo poles for the two-day journey to Cox's Bazar.

Upon settling in their new shelter in the camps of Cox's Bazar, Ayesha enjoyed learning sewing at a nearby women's shed, while their mother took on the role of Shabera's primary caregiver, attending to her food, clothing, and hygiene needs. Sadly, in 2021, Shabera and Ayesha's mother passed away after a period of illness, leaving young Ayesha to assume the responsibilities of caring for Shabera full-time. Shortly after their mother's death, Ayesha began displaying physical symptoms similar to Shabera's disabilities, which eventually led to complete paralysis. With limited medical facilities available in the camps, there was no diagnosis or effective treatments available. Ayesha passed away in 2022, aged only 17.

Following Ayesha's death, Shabera found herself completely alone without any immediate family members, and without a caregiver to assist her. What troubled Shabera the most was the indignity of strangers having to clean her soiled clothes and bedsheets. She resorted to not eating, hoping to eliminate the need for using the toilet. For days, Shabera remained lying on the floor of her shelter. "Living and dying became the same for me. What was the point of living when all my family members had died?" she said.

It was during one of Rehana's regular household visits to assess the needs of community members that she discovered Shabera in this distressing situation. Rehana accompanied Shabera to the office of the Camp in Charge (CiC) and advocated for her, urging camp authorities to provide her with a toilet in her own home. Rehana effectively communicated Shabera's circumstances and maintained regular follow-up to persuade the camp authorities to make an exception to the standard camp guidelines, which normally provide toilets at the neighbourhood level rather than at individual households.

Shabera expressed her gratitude for the assistance she received, including the provision of her own toilet, which has greatly improved her daily living conditions. Although life remains challenging, Shabera now has a measure of dignity restored to her life with the help of her neighbours and weekly visits from a disability inclusion NGO in the camp, arranged through Rehana’s advocacy.