Setara Begum was in the last days of pregnancy when she was forced to flee as the Myanmar army closed in on her home village in the Maungdaw district of Rakhine state.
After an arduous seven-day journey she was finally able to cross the water and land at Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf, Bangladesh, but only after the boatman had taken her jewellery as the fare.
Setara had lost contact with all her family members during her journey to the border, right when she most needed them.
“When I reached the island (Shah Porir Dwip), I felt my labour pain which made me walk slower than the others,” she told the Dhaka Tribune at Nayapara Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf last Saturday.
Realising she was going into labour, Setara sat beside the river for a while, but before long she was all alone in the dark.
“I couldn’t move because of the pain,” she said.
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It has been reported that over 100 women gave birth to children while fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh, many without medical help. Setara was about to become one of them.
“I gave birth to the child without anyone’s help. I tore the umbilical cord with my own teeth,” she said.
“After roaming about for a while, I found my parents on the roadside, and finally for the last three days we have been with a host family.”
Setara named her baby boy Aslam. He is now 11 days old.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
