Rohingya Life Photography

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Shobbir Ahmed learned to make this bamboo rain shield from the generations before him. His father and grandfather used t...
20/08/2026

Shobbir Ahmed learned to make this bamboo rain shield from the generations before him. His father and grandfather used the same kind of shield in the paddy fields of Arakan, woven from bamboo and dried palm leaves to keep the rain away while they worked.
Today, Shobbir makes one for his young son, Arham.The boy wears it in the rain, but he is also wearing a story he inherited without ever having to see the place where it began.
For Shobbir, the future of this craft is not simply about making the same shield again. He dreams that his son and other young Rohingya will learn the skill, experiment with new designs and materials, and turn an old necessity into something meaningful for a new generation.
The craft exists because their ancestors made it. Its future depends on whether their children choose to make it their own.
In a life shaped by displacement, Shobbir cannot hand his son the fields of Arakan but he can hand him the knowledge to create something from what remains.

Abdu Motlob, 64, works quietly, turning thin strips of bamboo into a traditional cot. He does not rush the process. His...
20/08/2026

Abdu Motlob, 64, works quietly, turning thin strips of bamboo into a traditional cot. He does not rush the process. His hands know how much to bend each strip, where to place it, and how tightly to weave it. The finished cot will be simple, but every part of it carries the knowledge of how to make something useful from a natural material.
For Abdu, this craft is part of everyday Rohingya life. It is a way of making something with care rather than simply buying something ready made. He hopes that this way of creating will continue to have a place in Rohingya life, even as materials and lifestyles change.
His dream is to see traditional bamboo work valued not only as something from the past, but as a skill that can inspire new ideas. He imagines young people looking at the bamboo and seeing possibilities beyond the objects their elders made.
In this single piece of work, the past is not being repeated. It is being reworked by hand, one strip at a time, into something that can still belong in the future.

In Arakan, the mud stove was part of everyday Rohingya life. For Hamida learned the practice of making and using one by ...
20/08/2026

In Arakan, the mud stove was part of everyday Rohingya life. For Hamida learned the practice of making and using one by hand, shaping the earth into a simple stove for cooking her family’s meals. Many families around her used the same kind of stove, making it an ordinary but important part of daily life.
After displacement, the way people cook has changed. In the refugee camp, gas stoves have replaced mud stoves in most households. Yet Hamida still remembers the difference. For her, food cooked over a mud stove has a taste that gas cooking cannot replace. The smoke, the fire, and the slow cooking are connected to the feeling of home she remembers from Arakan.
Her handmade stove is therefore more than a cooking tool. It carries a practical skill, a memory, and a part of Rohingya household culture. She hopes this knowledge will not disappear as younger generations grow up using different cooking methods.
Looking toward the future, Hamida imagines that the traditional mud stove could be improved with stronger and safer designs while keeping the knowledge of how it is made and used. What once served an everyday need could become a way for younger Rohingya people to learn about a traditional skill and remember how their families lived before displacement.
For Hamida, shaping the mud stove is also shaping a connection between what existed in Arakan and what could still exist in the future

Inside his small tarpaulin shelter in the Rohingya refugee camp, Nurul Hakim, 55, continues a bamboo craft he learned fr...
20/08/2026

Inside his small tarpaulin shelter in the Rohingya refugee camp, Nurul Hakim, 55, continues a bamboo craft he learned from his grandfather. Surrounded by bamboo strips, he carefully weaves them by hand into traditional household items such as Unja (kitchen cover baskets), Doilon (baby cots), Cailon (rice winnowing baskets), and storage baskets. His first lessons came from sitting beside his grandfather, watching his hands, learning how to prepare the bamboo, make the strips thin, and weave them into different patterns. There was no classroom or written guide. He learned through observation, practice, and patience.
For Nurul, bamboo weaving is more than a way to earn a living. It is knowledge inherited from his grandfather and a connection to Rohingya culture and the way families lived before displacement. Each object he makes has a practical purpose, but it also carries a memory of a traditional way of life. Continuing the craft allows him to keep that knowledge alive.
Today, however, continuing this practice is difficult. He works with limited space, simple tools, and whatever materials are available to him. Many handmade household objects that were once common in Rohingya homes have increasingly been replaced by factory made alternatives. There are also many things he would like to make but cannot produce with his current resources.
With better tools, more materials, and a proper workspace, Nurul hopes to expand his craft beyond traditional baskets. He dreams of experimenting with bamboo furniture, decorative pieces, storage products, and new household designs. He does not want to leave the traditional craft behind. Instead, he wants to combine its traditional techniques and patterns with new ideas.
When he imagines the next ten years, Nurul hopes to see young Rohingya people learning bamboo weaving and creating their own designs. He believes the craft could become a source of income for families and communities if craftspeople had better access to materials, tools, training, workspace, and markets. He hopes that one day Rohingya bamboo products could reach wider markets and become something people are proud to create and use.
For Nurul,........ Etc

Myanmar also continues to deny the Rohingya recognition as citizens, one of the central grievances underlying decades of...
17/08/2026

Myanmar also continues to deny the Rohingya recognition as citizens, one of the central grievances underlying decades of persecution and displacement.

“The refugees in Bangladesh have made it clear that they will only return to Myanmar if their citizenship of the country is recognised, and there is no sign whatsoever that the junta is prepared to do that,” Crisp said.

https://www.dailywaadaa.com/analysis/2026/08/17/why-myanmars-promise-to-take-back-300000-rohingya-may-lead-nowhere?sfnsn=mo&fbclid=IwdGRjcATvtUxjbGNrBO-1B3Bkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeU1wba8xRM9SWaK3SL9QBnax8yNz7nR8hxwlXEGVlV4IZagE-yuIq4cJeKWQ_aem_iMhnsLgN-04nr_gIsiUG2g

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. • Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security...
17/08/2026

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

• Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights?fbclid=IwdGRjcATvjCxjbGNrBO-MJHBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe34JnsroVnL9efbOwDtM80gA8Sxhowpfsqmu0fsN5X3frLo-fVm-6mTt2ql0_aem_Jd0Qm8qsMX1nId0NMVrUsA

There is no blackboard, school desk, or classroom around them only a notebook, a pen, and a quiet place to study. Sittin...
13/08/2026

There is no blackboard, school desk, or classroom around them only a notebook, a pen, and a quiet place to study. Sitting side by side, the two siblings practising their lessons after keeping their book on their laps, each following their own page. For them, learning is part of everyday life, something they can continue wherever they find a little space and time. In this simple place, their notebooks hold more than schoolwork, they hold the habit of learning and the possibility of a different tomorrow.

The water is their classroom, and his father is his teacher. Standing beside his father, the boy watches carefully, lear...
13/08/2026

The water is their classroom, and his father is his teacher. Standing beside his father, the boy watches carefully, learning how to hold the net, read the water, and work with patience. He learns not by reading instructions, but by watching, trying, and doing it alongside someone with experience.
Here, a practical skill becomes a lesson, and a father’s knowledge becomes part of his son’s future.

A child sits quietly with a notebook, practising the Burmese alphabet—Kagyi (က), Kha-kway (ခ), Ga-nge (ဂ), and more . Th...
13/08/2026

A child sits quietly with a notebook, practising the Burmese alphabet—Kagyi (က), Kha-kway (ခ), Ga-nge (ဂ), and more . The pen moves slowly across the page as each letter is written and practised again.
There is nothing elaborate about this learning space. Just a notebook, a pen, and a child taking time to learn. These first letters are part of learning the language, understanding culture, and building a foundation for what comes next.
For this child, education begins with something simple, learning one letter today, so there can be a whole world of words tomorrow.

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