How would you feel if you were not wanted anywhere. Wherever you went you were rejected and looked down upon. A people group called the Rohingya are just that. As the United Nations put it–they have no country and is one of the most persecuted minority groups on earth.
Christian Aid Missions, your link to indigenous missions, has come beside this people group of outcasts, helping and preaching the Gospel to them. “They have no food, no work, no land, no help,” says the spokesman for a Christian-Aid assisted ministry in Bangladesh. “Because they are an ethnic minority and they are unregistered with the Bangladesh government, they Rohingya are caught in a dual trap. The Burmese military will not allow them in their own homeland, and in Bangladesh they have no identity.”
The Burmese government denies them citizenship, despite their migration from Bangladesh two centuries ago. And even though they are Muslim people, traditional Muslims have no use for them. Numbering between 800,000 and one million people, the Rohingyans have faced persecution from the Burmese government for more than three decades. Even Burma views them as illegal immigrants.
Some Rohyingans live in refugee camps. Thousands more flock to government camps but are denied and turned away because they lack legal status. Many have established a makeshift camp nearby the camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. “Their camp is a slum community and is devoid of latrines, safe drinking water and hope”, states a ministry leader.
Less than ten-percent of Rohingya exiles are officially registered. Even so, Rohingyans cannot be citizens of Burma, they need permission to marry, they need permissions to have more than two children and they must inform authorities if they want to travel outside of their villages (even if it’s a medical emergency).
With limited education and job skills, the Rohingya typically find employment as rickshaw pullers or in the fishing industry. Christian Aid donors made it possible this summer to provide fishing nets for nine needy families. Those families are now able to provide more for their own family instead of sharing 50-percent of what they caught with the owners of the fishing nets. They are much happier and have hope.
Please keep praying for the Rohingya so that the gospel may be preached to them and give this outcast people group back to God. We can stand beside them to provide their physical needs, especially food, housing, wells, latrines, medical care, and education for their children. To help donate and reach out with grace and love to this people group, click here.
