By Ahtaram Shin on World Refugee Day - 20th June 2024
OUR HOME
Our Home
As a universal creature
I find all the music and culture
Under the dome of home
Despite,
I’m a bird of the jungle
I’m a cluster of clouds in the sky
I’m a wave of wind in the ocean
I’m a layer of shade on the earth
I’m a star in the universe
I’m a beauty of the galaxy
I am aware of the taste of peace
When we were in our home
Yet I am looking for that silence
Like a missing sprawl of storm
Who is desperate for her nest!
In search of a space to call home,
Some travel the world to find it.
Some fight to protect it,
Some die to save it.
Some spend trillions to make it,
Some shift to different planets to create it.
Yet, I, Rohingya, find it nowhere
In the rain I wet and in the heat I burn
Because I am homeless
If the rays of sun cease shining,
If the moon crashes at the noon of eclipse,
If the darkness sums up high,
If the doomsday shatters the cosmos into pieces,
Will you allow me to stay with you, dear home?
My heart only beats without stress
Once I remind of you, Home!
A home is among the most basic necessities for a human being; it is more than just a space—it is a part of one’s identity. For the Rohingya people, a house and a home hold even greater significance, valued far beyond mere assets. In Rohingya culture, there is a saying: "Wherever you go and whatever you go through, you will find peace when you return home." Every soul among the Rohingya is always desperate and depressed until they can return to their original home, "Arakan." As I mentioned earlier, home is more than just a space. For us Rohingya, our land, state, and nation are considered home. In the history of the Rohingya, finding the home has remained as a permanent journey towards the end of all darkness, transforming the life into light.
There are approximately 4.3 million Rohingya worldwide. Nearly two million are in refugee camps in Bangladesh and IDP camps in Myanmar, while tens of thousands live in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and other Western countries. Regardless of where they are, everyone's heart constantly beats for home. In Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees initiated the "Going Home" campaign both in the Cox's Bazar camp and through an online hashtag. People created slogans such as, "We have to build our own future. Let’s go back home." In this context, home represents the future and the restoration of their rights and Justice. It is time to return home, find a place to call home, restore all the denied rights, ensure justice, and save the Rohingya from the ongoing genocide.
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