Aleya Nur lost her husband and seven-year-old son while escaping to Bangladesh during Myanmar army’s crackdown on Rohingyas last year. Later she learnt that they were killed.
The guilt of leaving behind her husband and son haunted her for days. She remained upset all the time. A local volunteer found her and invited her to a Women Friendly Space (WFS), a place run by United Nations population Fund (UNFPA) that offers women a chance to talk and receive information.
At the very beginning, Aleya used to come to the space once or twice a week, and remained silent. One day, she shared her experiences and since then she started coming here every alternative day.
Case workers at the Lombashiya WFS found her a very jovial person. A few days later, she joined the space as a community volunteer.
Aleya realized that she is not alone. She has another child for whom she has to survive. “I want to come here every day. I do not feel good when I am back at the camp.”
Her daughter is now going to school again.
According to an UNFPA’s March report, 52% of the Rohingyas, who arrived in Bangladesh since August last year, are women and girls and 316,000 women and girls belong to reproductive age group.
Until March, as many as 148,876 women visited Women Friendly Spaces and 10,622 women reported incidents of gender based violence and 7,555 women were referred to medical care.
There are 19 Women Friendly Spaces inside the Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya upazila, Cox’s Bazar to support women and girls. They come and enjoy some joyful time and learn about different issues.
What does a Women Friendly Space look like?
The space is a safe haven for women to share their pain, trauma, or any kind of needs, and men are not allowed here. There are four rooms - an office, a counselling room, a midwives room, and a session room for educating women on numerous issues.
A tree, named the “Dream Tree,” has been drawn in the wall of the session room where the dreams of these vulnerable women are written.
Some dreams and wishes include “I want to fly like a bird,” “Want to work in building peace,” “Want security for women,” “Want to do a job,” and “Want to go back to my country.”
Educating women and providing a space for sharing
The space runs different educational sessions of psycho-social programs for women seven days a week. While visiting a session, this correspondent saw only 10-15 women in the beginning but with time, the number of women grew and within half an hour, the session room became houseful with around 50 women.
The psycho-socio education program includes gender-based violence, gender equality, reproductive health, trafficking, child marriage, drug addiction, and disaster management. Every day the center takes two sessions on two different issues.
Jane Rutledge, humanitarian communications officer of UNFPA Bangladesh in Cox’s Bazar, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is self confidence and friendship networking that they have lost… a space to talk like you talk to a friend.”
“They are learning many new things. For example, they do not know the impact on their health if they give birth every year or every alternate year,” said Asmaul Hosna, case worker at the WFS.
She shared a success story with this correspondent. “Two-three months ago, one of our beneficiaries informed us about preparations for a child marriage.
“We planned an outreach session at that place. The mother of the girl who was supposed to get married was present at the session. The next day she came to our space and attended another session. From our session she learned the impact of child marriage and now both mother and daughter are regular here.”
Asmaul said she felt bad when she heard about horrible traumas of the Rohingya women: “Even after experiencing unforgettable traumas they still do have a dream, a dream of new happy life.”