A safe space to create for displaced sisters with disabilities

Above: Jaytun Ara embroidering a pillow cover at home. The walls are now covered with the sisters’ crafts and art. Photo: World Vision Bangladesh Rohingya Crisis Response

At the Women and Girls Safe Space (WGSS) operated by World Vision in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, three sisters are busy making handicrafts, sewing clothes, and talking among themselves using hand gestures.

Asmida (26), Muslima (20), and Jaytun Ara (18) fled Myanmar in 2017 amid the Rohingya genocide and have been living in a displaced persons camp for five years.

When Asmida was a young girl, she lost her ability to speak after an accident. Muslima and Jaytun were born deaf and are unable to communicate verbally.

Above: Muslima shows off the decorations she and her sisters have created. Photo: World Vision Bangladesh Rohingya Crisis Response

The sisters chat a lot using their own form of sign language, but have few other friends and “live in their own world,” their mother, Nur Bahar, said.

The WGSS has expanded that world, and unleashed the sisters’ creativity and handicraft skills. Now their modest home is decorated with embroidery and crafts, and the eldest sister, Asmida, is an active member of her local Community Watch Group

Before, family members did not permit the sisters to go outside independently, leaving them isolated and bored.

“Although they couldn’t fully express their feelings, as a mother, I understood what was happening in their mind; they became depressed more frequently after they reached puberty. I was tense about their mental health but could not do anything for them,” Nur Bahar said.

Nur Bahar heard about the WGSS, run by Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) partner NGO World Vision, in a meeting. After visiting the centre, she decided it would be the right place for the sisters to gain skills and meet new friends.

Above: Asmida communicates with a neighbour about COVID-19 during a Community Watch Group household visit. Photo: World Vision Bangladesh Rohingya Crisis Response

“When I visited the WGSS, I saw women and adolescents were receiving training on making handicrafts and sewing in a very safe environment. I took a decision immediately to send my daughters to WGSS so that they could be engaged in some activity that would prevent depression,” she said.

The WGSS, and accompanying mobile psychosocial support services for people with disability, are supported through the AHP’s Bangladesh response. The services aim to provide new opportunities for women and girls, including those with disabilities, to live happy and fulfilled lives.

Asmida, Muslima and Jaytun benefitted significantly from structured psychosocial support delivered through the WGSS, and have also had the opportunity to learn about protection issues such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, the negative impact of child marriage, and how to report and get help.

“Our trainers use flip charts and other communication materials specially designed for people with hearing and speech disabilities in the WGSS to make the sessions more inclusive and accessible,” said Elias Murmu, AHP Consortium Manager for World Vision in Bangladesh.

“This creates access for people with disability and they are now contributing to and sharing information with their families as well as in the wider community.”

World Vision is also working closely with partners the Centre for Disability in Development and CBM for technical assistance to continue improving communication with people with hearing and speech disabilities. Staff at the WGSS struggled to understand the sisters’ sign language when they first came to the centre, but now communication has improved.

At the centre, the sisters have learned nakshi khata, a traditional Bengali style of embroidery, as well as how to use sewing machines to create various handicrafts, like pillow covers. When they are at home, they spend their spare time working on their crafts.

For oldest sister Asmida, attending the WGSS has also led to her becoming a member of the local Community Watch Group. Through this work, she regularly visits other households in the camp to listen to any problems, and shares information on child marriage, human trafficking, and gender-based violence using sign language and printed information materials.

The AHP multi-year response in Bangladesh to the Rohingya crisis is focused on gender equality, disability inclusion, localisation, WASH, protection, health, education and disaster risk reduction, and is implemented through a consortium led by six Australian NGOs, working with 10 national partners.