By Zoriah – Zoriah.net

Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh are a sad place to be in. People are stuck in impossible situations, having fled their homes and their lives only to end up in one of the worlds most impoverished and over populated countries. They live in camps where they are not allowed to work, have few options, few resources and little hope.

Getting access to photograph the Rohingya refugee camps is nearly impossible. The government is not interested in the Rohingya’s stories being told and does not give access to journalists.

As a photojournalist I have seen a lot of things others would never even want to imagine. Oddly enough, what really gets to me, what gives me nightmares more than anything else, are situations in which people are trapped and have no options. I had nightmares for years after my first trip to Gaza, thinking about what it would be like to live my life in a place I could never leave with few options and few choices that were truly mine to make.

This is the feeling you get in the Rohingya refugee camps. They are not places you would want to be in and they are not places that anyone else should have to be in either. There are tens of thousands of people stuck in limbo, unable to move forward and unable to go back. They are dying of disease, malnutrition, old age, child birth and I would have to imagine some die from plain hopelessness. They are trapped…hoping that at some point the world will begin to pay attention to them.

Here is a brief look at some of those I saw struggling in the camps in Bangladesh.  (See more of Zoriah’s work here)

For information about the struggle and the plight of the Rohingya people, read Ramzy Baroud’s articles: 

Ignoring Genocide: Rohingya People Deserve to Live

Democracy and Slaughter in Burma: Gold Rush Overrides Human Rights