Growing Up Stateless: The Lives of Rohingya Children in Cox’s Bazar

A photo-essay curated by Ayub Khan

This photo-essay focuses on children — the most vulnerable yet most hopeful members of our community. Born into exile, they grow up surrounded by bamboo shelters, barbed wire, restricted movement, and limited opportunities. Yet in their laughter, play, and daily struggles, they embody resilience and imagination.

Our photographs capture moments both ordinary and profound: a girl waiting for water, another studying under the dim glow of a torch, children crafting toys from scraps, and others finding joy in simple games. Each image reveals the duality of camp life — scarcity and creativity, hardship and hope. Childhood here is shaped by struggle, but it is also an act of resistance against invisibility.

As Rohingya artists, we reject the narrow lens that frames our people only as victims. Through the eyes of children, we present a fuller truth: vulnerability intertwined with strength, and pain met with an enduring human spirit.

On Eid, children love playing with soap bubbles. Among them, one Rohingya boy quietly blows up a balloon, lost in his own joy. 2024 © Hafizur Rahman.

Children slide down muddy slopes into water, turning the refugee camp into their playground under the bright sky. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

On 12 September 2024, a father shields his child as floods hit the camp. Nearby, a girl peers from her shelter, watching the rain with quiet fear. 2024 © Ayub Khan.

A girl waits with empty containers at the water stand, while another woman sits patiently—echoes of the daily struggle for water in the camp. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

Arman stands proudly with a football in hand, his bright smile carrying dreams bigger than the camp. 2024 © Ayub Khan.

A boy crouches to play marbles—Shigula Kela—a traditional game once loved in Myanmar. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

Light in the darkness: girls study by faint daylight, nurturing their hunger for learning and their hope for tomorrow. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

A brother and sister share a kiss through a small hole in the bamboo wall—a quiet moment of love stronger than hardship. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

Jubair joins friends for cane-ball, Myanmar’s beloved sport. Each kick brings teamwork, laughter, and belonging. 2025 © SR Reyes.

A child holds her mother’s hand, guiding her through the flooded paths between shelters. 2025 © SR Reyes.

In the crowded camp, space for play is rare. A barefoot boy, covered in mud and without a jersey, still carries an unshaken spirit for the game. 2025 © SR Reyes.

Ten-year-old Nobi Sha carries his brother on his back, a chicken in one hand, and a bag in his mouth. Love and responsibility push him beyond his age. 2025 © Ro Harez Khan.

A boy wears a raincoat he fashioned from plastic sheets—proof of resilience and creativity in the face of need. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

A boy’s gentle smile beneath a broken umbrella reflects resilience—finding joy even during monsoon floods. 2025 © Md Hossein.

At night, Naru studies by the faint beam of her sister’s torch. Without electricity or classrooms, they create their own light of learning. 2025 © Ayub Khan.

A girl collects rainwater, just as her family once did in Myanmar. “It feels like home,” says Sabukun Nahar. 2025 © Sabukun Nahar.

Girls laugh and jump together outdoors, making joyful memories in the camp. 2025 © Md Hossein.

In a small, crowded shelter, dozens of Rohingya students study by dim light. Learning continues, even at night. 2025 © Md Hossein.

In the shade of a solar panel and cloths, a father created shelter. Now, his children have turned it into their tiny playground. 2025 © Md Reaj Uddin.

Two brothers collect plastic bottles from the garbage dump, trying to earn a little to help their family. 2025 © Mohammed Ederis.

Children float on a homemade raft in a dam, echoing memories of Arakan, where rivers once carried their laughter. 2023 © Mohammed Ederis.

A child sleeps under a tarpaulin after a camp fire. Families who lost everything now face long nights without safety or comfort. 2024 © Mohammed Ederis.

A mother and her children watch the rain from their fragile shelter. Fearing floods and landslides, she whispers: “Even the life of birds seems better than ours.” 2024 © Mohammed Ederis.

On 4 March 2023, heavy rains flooded camp pathways, cutting children off from school and safe play, while damaged shelters left families vulnerable. 2023 © Mohammed Ederis.

Girls mold toys from mud—symbols of imagination, hope, and joy. 2025 © Saiful Hoque.

Four friends fly handmade kites against the afternoon sky, chasing dreams and friendship above the camp. 2025 © Saiful Hoque.

A young boy spins a wooden top on his thumb—a small moment of balance, play, and quiet hope. 2024 © Saiful Hoque.

Two brothers share a simple joy: the elder pushes a handmade toy car, bringing laughter to his little brother. 2025 © Saiful Hoque.

Shahin loves football. With no playgrounds in the camp, he and other children play wherever space allows—still dreaming of becoming athletes. 2022 © Ro Alfaz Khan.

Huddled together against the cold, children endure heavy rains inside their fragile shelter. 2025 Maung Emdadul Hasan.

Inside her bamboo shelter, a girl looks into a small mirror, gently applying Thanakha on her cheeks—holding on to a tradition from home. 2024 © Mohammed Arafat.

Children carefully walk along a narrow, waterlogged canal—still finding joy in the risky paths of the camp. 2024 © Md Hossein.

A boy shields himself with a palm-frond rain cape, the same kind once worn by farmers back in Arakan. 2025 © Md Hossein.

On 13 September 2024, children play in a flooded hut, turning rainwater into fun—despite parents’ efforts to keep them indoors. 2024 © Md Hossein.

After the rains, children leap into a small lake near the camp, splashing and swimming with delight. 2024 © Md Hossein.

Rohingya boys ride their handmade wooden cart, racing with joy and freedom amid the struggles of camp life. 2025 © Mohammed Junaid.

Children invent games with a plastic pipe, while one captures the moment on a simple phone. Childhood creativity has no limits. 2025 © Anayat Ullah.

A boy kicks the ball while his friend holds his sandals on the sidelines. Their laughter and friendship light up the sandy field in the camp.

Two boys balance on a bamboo raft, pushing themselves across the water with a long pole. Even in hardship, play finds a way. 2024 © Mohammed Arafat.

Trending toys bring small sparks of happiness to children in the refugee camps. 2024 © Hafizur Rahman.

At just 13, Minara turns her drawings into a powerful voice against gender-based violence—her art carrying the hopes of her people, proving courage and creativity can bloom even in hardship. 2024 © Hafizur Rahman.

At 15, Rohim sells dried ribbon fish to support his family and fund his studies—showing how resilience keeps hope alive. 2024 © Hafizur Rahman.

On 25 August, Genocide Remembrance Day, Rohingya artists shared their grief and resilience through art—raising their voices for justice, dignity, and safe repatriation. 2025 © Md Asom.

With this work, we ask urgent questions: What future awaits children who grow up entirely in refugee camps? How can the world ensure they are given not just survival, but dignity, education, and freedom?

This series is both testimony and vision — an appeal to see Rohingya children not as passive subjects, but as dreamers, storytellers, and the living bearers of our collective future.