#savetherohingya

Oh my, what a year this was: from the final stages of genocide against the Rohingya to the war in Syria, from refugee camps in Lebanon to Myanmar, our hearts have been broken this year and we are mobilized like never before.

It is tempting to tell you all the projects we have planned for 2017 in response to all that has happened in 2016. And we will, eventually. Projects have been submitted and approved, and we are ready to launch them next week: from training for medics to a workshop producing sleeping bags, from school children raising goats to pay for their education, to online high school diplomas for kids in refugee camps, 2017 will be our most ambitious and creative year yet.

This year we have mobilized like never before to provide help to children and families affected by war and oppression.

But more than what we do, we want you to know why we do what we do. Children shouldn’t suffer because adults are fighting. Ever. We believe this, and it motivates us to act on their behalf: to enrol them in school, to make sure they are not cold when they go to sleep, to immunize them, to make sure their fathers can put food on the table, and to ensure they drink clean water. Day after day, across several continents and more time zones than we can count, our team at Partners brainstorms, dreams, does and delivers so that children do not have to suffer.

It is why we ask you to fund these projects; it is why we dream them up in the first place. It is why we humble ourselves and write appeals to ask for just a little more, why we risk our lives going into dangerous places and why we go to the end of the line in order to find children who need help, because to love is to act.

Let’s end this hard year in the most hopeful way: with love that acts. Please give today so that we can do this work in 2017. We can only do it with you, together.

Steve Gumaer

Founder and President, Partners Relief & Development 

(Hafsa’s Story from Partners Relief & Development)

the Rohingya had inhabited the Rakhine State (formerly known as Arakan) region since the 9th century, but following the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 under the military regime, they have since been DENIED FULL CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS because Burmese law does not recognise Rohingya as one of myanmar’s national races. they are considered an ethnic minority.  

between AD 800 and 1982, there were of course complex historical developments concerning the rohingya people, which provide depth into their current plight. i encourage you to read up on it here (a timeline of events) and here (human rights watch org’s report). 

being denied citizenship and considered “resident foreigners” on their homeland is being denied basic rights to live with dignity. these people are restricted in their mobility- they can’t travel freely to find jobs, denied access to education and healthcare, forcefully segregated from the rest of the country, subject to abuse and exploitation by authorities which force them into labour. they are stripped of decency and are at the mercy of governing bodies. 

they ARE being persecuted. they ARE facing genocide. in fact, between 22 october to 10 november 2016, as many as 430 villages were torched. the state military admitted to firing at them with gunships. satellite photos showed that the “scale of destruction was greater than expected”. (bbc article) 

furthermore, independent media outlets and those affiliated with minority groups are greatly policed by state- and military-run outlets, especially when investigative journalist work is involved. brutal press censorship reduces the visibility of the rohingya even more, this extends to other ethnic minority groups as well.

the plight of the rohingya has only worsened through the decades. i see gross emergency in this situation and am ashamed of being ignorant about this crisis for so long. i am currently donating monthly to Partners Relief & Development. they’re also on tumblr! (@partnersrelief) please check out their website, it is comprehensive and very informative. all financial reports are available. they’re even publishing free zines, all available online, bi-annually, centered on the progress of their efforts, progress and life in the rohingya communities they’re working for.

i attempted to ascertain their transparency before i’d commit to any donations, and found out from charitynavigator that 100% of their expenses go to funding their programmes. i know lack of transparency of charity organisations is one key concern many of us have which deters further involvement with their relief efforts, so i wanted to just put a disclaimer.