Thank you to all those who have donated, and continue to do so. We will be updating you on WRO's recent progress and work soon! Please subscribe to WRO's email subscription found on the website, to stay updated on WRO's work with refugees in camps in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India. 

What is the World Rohingya Organization (WRO)?

These initial weeks of violence and terror are only the beginning for escapees; days, months and years of needed assistance await refugees. As the Rohingya leave the headlines, they cannot leave our hearts and our minds. 

Please help the WRO reach its MINIMUM goal of $11,000 to continue and create more long term projects of assistance and relief for the Rohingya. WRO has years of experience and personal connections within camps (which many individuals and groups do not, due to the severe restrictions placed by the govt of Bangladesh, of aid entering camps).  

To learn more about the World Rohingya Organization, visit worldrohingya.com. If you have specific questions about this particular WRO campaign, you can call: 646-637-7775, and we will be glad to answer any of your questions. 

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“The Rohingya are probably the most friendless people in the world. They just have no one advocating for them at all.” -UNHCR spokeswoman

“They beat and killed my husband with a knife. They went into my house. Five of them took off my clothes and raped me. My eight-month- old son was crying of hunger when they were in my house because he wanted to breastfeed, so to silence him they killed him too with a knife. I thought I would die, but I survived.” -Rohingya woman in refugee camp in Bangladesh

Background Information

• As of August 25th, another eruption of violence has led 400,000 Rohingya to flee Burma due to a campaign of collective punishment against them, by Burmese security forces, and extremist Buddhist groups and civilians. Security forces are reported to have cordoned off Rohingya villages, torching civilians and villages with petrol bombs.  continue reading below. To learn more about the situation, you can read the following:

--> 270,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar 

• In October 2016, a military campaign orchestrated by Burmese security forces led to horrific violence against the Rohingya, the widespread destruction of villages, homes and masjids, and unbearable emotional and psychological torment. 66,000 Rohingya fled for their lives to Bangladesh, and are now living in refugee camps, or makeshift settlements. This adds to the already 200,000+ Rohingya refugees from previous years, that reside on the Myanmar- Bangladesh border.

• Babies and children being slaughtered with knives, as young as a few months old

• Mass sexual violence: multiple rapes of women and girls; gang rape; rape of pregnant women; victims as young as 11 years old; continuous vaginal bleeding, infection, and injury post-rape

• Brutal beatings of women, men, children and the elderly resulting in death

• Barbaric slaughtering of men, women, children, and elderly with knives and cleavers

• Public humiliation: gang raping women and girls in public, raping women in masjids
  Weapons used to attack civilians: rifles, grenades, bamboo sticks, rifle butts, long knives, cleavers

• Setting fire to Muslim homes, Muslim-owned shops, and masjids

• Systematic use of stress positions: Rohingya forcedto sit in stress positions between 1 hour- 3 days;  sitting in the sun without food or water

• Numerous accounts of disappearance of family members in the hundreds

Read the personal accounts of refugees, here.

• Unwanted and seen as a burden in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi government treats Rohingya refugees poorly, hoping to push them back to Myanmar. The government does not allow international organizations to provide aid to them. They are limited in their movement, not allowed to leave their camps, obtain jobs, go to school, own land, marry Bangladeshi citizens to obtain citizenship, etc. They are left in camps for weeks, month and for thousands years, with no opportunity to better their lives.

• Many are suffering from lack of food and preventable illnesses, along with PTSD and depression. Their situation is dire and urgent, yet the world has continued to ignore them and turn a blind eye.  

Scars on Rohingya man's back [The Guardian] 

How does the WRO reach refugees?

WRO is a small, but well positioned voluntary organization that has access through family and friends to the Rohingya community within Myanmar and elsewhere. Founder Mohiuddin Mohamad Yusof is originally from the Rakhine State of Myanmar, and is a Rohingya refugee, with family and friends within the camps. All funds collected will go towards providing physical, psychological and emotional relief to the Rohingyas. For more information, visit our website: https://www.worldrohingya.com/

Current WRO Initiatives:  

1. Community Schools: These are important centers of learning and support for refugee children, that otherwise do not receive any education. Bangla, English and Islamic tarbiyah is taught to 6 to 12 years old. All school fees and supplies are included free of cost to all 120 children. This includes books, notebooks, pencils and bookbags. Breakfast and snacks are provided while school is in session.

2. Female Empowerment and Awareness Projects: Women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence; trafficking; rape victims are being abandoned due to husband's victim blaming their wive's for rape.

3. Provide basic and critical necessities such as food, medicines and funds for the survival of women, men and children. Especially women who are left helpless, with children and no means to support themselves. Financial aid to refugees within camps is essential to their survival and empowerment. 

A little goes a long way: 

In US dollars, the cost of providing the basic necessities that the Rohingya need, and running the programs that we have in place is little. But without a steady channel of funding yet, our organization is struggling to keep our promises to the Rohingya: promises of an education, food for families and and a future for their children. We need YOUR help to ease the distress of our Muslim brothers and sisters who are in immense pain right now. For example, to run a school for 120 children-- which includes books, pencils, paper, bookbags, breakfast and snacks, 5 days a week-- costs only about $230.00 per month, or $3,396.00 per year.

*If we are able to raise our goal of our initial goal of $11,000 and more, the assistance we can provide refugees would be life-changing!  It is our hope that with increased funds, we can create more schools, and/or more programs for children and families within the camp.

Satellite image of destruction, destroyed buildings seen in brown. [Human Rights Watch]

Rohingya girl crying in refugee camp due to being separated from her family [The Columbian]

 

Conditions in the Refugee Camps

• Malnutrition
• Lack of medical services and health care
• No education
• No job opportunity
• Restriction on movement
• Depression and PTSD

WRO's Long Time Presence in the Camps

• Founder Mr. Yusof speaking on the Rohingya, here. 

WRO's Community School in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

Refugee women a part of WRO's Female Empowerment Programs

Elderly Rohingya refugee, recipient of WRO's aid, holding a WRO sign

Founder and President, Mr. Yusof, with refugee children in WRO's Malaysia Branch

Group of Rohingya refugee women, recipients of WRO's aid, holding a WRO sign