EARTHCHILDREN
BANGLADESH
ENDANGERED PEOPLES.
THE REFUGEES OF BANGLADESH.
In August of 2017, a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s army on the Rohingya sent hundreds of thousands fleeing across the border into Bangladesh. They risked everything to escape by sea or on foot a military offensive which the United Nations later described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
On March 21 of 2022, following a rigorous factual and legal analysis, the US Secretary of State determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya.
Today, more than 1 million Rohingya are currently living in overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. More than have of them are children.
The estimated 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Myanmar are subject to government persecution and violence, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods.More than 1M
Rohingya live in the overcrowded refugee camps of Bangladesh.
OUR WORK IN BANGLADESH
EarthChildren Bangladesh was established to support vulnerable women and orphaned girls who reside inside of the world’s largest refugee camp by assisting with daily living needs, education, livelihood development, mental health, and improved living standards. EarthChildren’s foundational mission is to transform the very nature of the refugee camp from one of poverty and suppression to become an inspiring hub of business, international education opportunities, and sustainability – opening the door for individuals to leave the camp through non-humanitarian migration pathways. The 32 refugee camps span some 50 kilometres from Teknaf to Ukiah in the South-Eastern corner of Bangladesh. This is where our work is focused. Today we support 65 orphaned children and a wonderful In-Country team.
Globally, 40% of all refugees are children, many of whom are single or double orphans. Within this environment, children can easily fall prey to the human trafficking trade where they are used for sex, forced labor, or marriage. Many refugee women and children within the camps are illiterate and do not know their own personal rights or freedoms. This unstable environment leads to a cycle of abuse, instability, poverty, and suppression. EarthChildren provides comprehensive and holistic support programs for refugee women and orphaned girls to break the cycle of poverty, slavery, violence, inequality, and oppression. Starting at the core, our EarthChildren schools allow us to educate and nurture the children while providing them with safety, stability, nourishing food, clean water, the freedom to play, and an environment that they can heal and grow in. Building programs for and working in the camps requires patience, persistence, determination, and above all, love and care to inspire long-term intergenerational change into a community that has long been forsaken.
OUR WORK & IMPACT
Refugees helped and supported globally to date
Kilos of rice delivered into the refugee camps of Bangladesh
Meals delivered to orphan girls in 2022
Hours of counselling and mental health support delivered to vulnerable women in 2022
WHAT WE ACHEIVED IN THIS WEEK IN THE CAMPS
Number of girls in EarthChildren schools receiving an international education
00
+Girls
Number of nutritous meals served to orphaned children
00
+Meals
TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE SUPORTED BY EARTHCHILDREN PROGRAMS THIS WEEK IN THE REFUGEE CAMPS
00
+Number of hours of education provided to orphaned girls
00
+HOURS
Number of EarthChildren staff employed in the camps
00
+Staff
Project Bright Light Education
Female education is a significant issue for Rohingya girls. In the words of Habib Ullah, our English Language Coordinator, the condition of female education is extremely frustrating. When a girl is born into a Rohingya family, it is not regarded as a happy event. The parents think that she has come to add to their suffering. They seldom think of sending her to school. They think that educating their daughters is just wasting time. The parents try to find a husband for their daughter even before she attains physical and mental maturity. Ninety-five (95) percent of people in our Rohingya community strongly oppose female education. They only believe in a women’s traditional role as a mother, a wife and homemaker. …no nation can make real progress if it keeps a full half of its population in the darkness. Without the uplifting of women, progress for the Rohingya is not at all possible.”
EarthChildren’s Project BRIGHT LIGHT EDUCATION is our school program. Our schools are the first in the camps to cater to orphaned girls, the first to provide education beyond Year 5, the first to provide an international curriculum, and the first to include a food program. Our schools intend to afford the girls a strong intellectual knowledge base from which to pursue meaningful future career opportunities and to facilitate non-humanitarian migration pathways out of the camps.
Project Nourish And Support
NEWS ALERT. “Nearly six years into the Rohingya refugee crisis, for the first time World Food Program (WFP) is forced to cut its lifesaving assistance for Rohingya living in the camps in Bangladesh. From 1 March 2023, WFP will reduce its food provisions from US$12 to US$10 per person per month. With other critical services already dwindling, the repercussions of the ration cut – even if just two dollars – will be dire. Forty-five (45) percent of Rohingya families are not eating a sufficient diet and malnutrition is widespread in the camps. The Global Acute Malnutrition rate for children stands at 12 percent, just below the 15 percent WHO ‘Emergency’ threshold. With each ration cut, families will increasingly resort to dangerous strategies to cope. Sadly, women, adolescent girls and children will be the worst affected.”
Project NOURISH AND SUPPORT is our EarthChildren food program. We provide nutritious and balanced meals to our orphaned female students. At each of our schools, students are provided with a wholesome breakfast, a large nutritious lunch, and clean water. We seek to balance our meals with meats, vegetables, nuts, and fruits not widely available in the camps. In February 2023, we commenced our Scholarship Program. Each student who demonstrates a 90% attendance rate is eligible for a $25/month scholarship that provides the student with a bi-monthly food package intended to benefit the student and their guardian family.
Project Women’s Ladder Of Hope
Rohingya women and girls are amongst the most affected victims of the genocide in Myanmar and face even greater hardship and vulnerabilities in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. They face multiple challenges including insecurity, violence, and extremely limited freedom of movement. Their lives and freedoms are heavily constrained by the control that their communities have over marriage and education. Alongside lack of decent work, poor living conditions, insecurity and inadequate education opportunities, child marriages and polygamy have increased markedly. These vulnerable women and girls are targeted by human traffickers to leave the camps for neighbouring countries, particularly Malaysia and Thailand.
Commencing in late 2023, Project WOMEN’S LADDER OF HOPE is designed to provide vulnerable women with the skills to support themselves and their family independent of the refugee camp environment through a tailoring microfinance program. The objective of this program is to empower women in the camps to break the cycle of poverty. Through this program, these women will achieve valuable skills and begin to reach economic independence.
Project Renewable
Living conditions inside the camps are calamitous: they are overcrowded, poorly lit, and lacking adequate sanitation. Seventy (70) percent of the refugees are without sufficient shelter and half have no safe drinking water. Residents live in makeshift shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulins, or with no shelter at all. Women and children are vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and human trafficking. Furthermore, the camps are under constant threat of flooding, landslides, fires, and other disasters.
Project RENEWABLE seeks to address these issues through (1) green building design, and (2) renewable energy. Our advisory board of Green Building specialists guide our infrastructure design and development to build a more sustainable and habitable future. The image above depicts our new school that was built with sustainable bamboo, runs on renewable solar energy, and is equipped with a roofing architectural concept designed to improve airflow within the building.
Our Programs: Creating programs that are balanced for the individual, for the community, and for our natural environment.
OPPORTUNITY TO DONATE, COLLABORATE, AND WORK TOGETHER
Financial support is always needed for our work and a little goes a long way. As little as $15 per month supports meals for our children. While financial support is extremely needed, in-kind support and help in the form of materials (such as training texts and books), renewable energy infrastructure (such as solar infrastructure), and collaboration and partnership to expand our networks and ‘pollinate’ our program development are also essential to our work.
In return, we want to give back in a way that is meaningful to you. If you are interested in collaborating and/or supporting our work, we can create an in-kind package dependent on your needs. We offer marketing and promotional opportunities on our online platforms and at our charitable fundraising events. We offer internships to professionals in training. We also offer the opportunity to view our work firsthand on our annual donor trips into the world’s largest refugee camps and surrounding forests of Bangladesh.
Please contact us for more information.