By Rafiqur Rahman
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) – To demonstrate his desire to become an engineer, a 15-year-old Rohingya refugee has constructed a small-scale hydraulic excavator from spare parts collected among the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh.
Refugees in Bangladesh gathered on Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of clashes between Rohingya insurgents and Myanmar security forces that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from their homes.
More than 1 million Rohingya are living in often squalid tent cities in the district of Cox’s Bazar near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border since fleeing the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Using large plastic syringes as pumps to manipulate the excavator, Mohammad Toyub tests his device by lifting rice grains from a plate set on the floor of a schoolhouse in the caamp while younger children watch.
“When I was in Myanmar I saw an excavator digging and I was inspired to make a toy like this excavator,” Toyub said.
“After coming here to Bangladesh, I collected some small pieces of steel and I made different parts of it. I found the syringes to drive the toy both up and down, then I apply this mechanism to the toy.”
Toyub only received a few years of rudimentary education in Myanmar before he and his family fled to Bangladesh in 2017. Since then, Toyub has only attended a few classes provided by UNICEF at his camp, but his schooling is on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his father Din Mohammed said.
“I feel very happy seeing him doing this as he is also happy. Now we became refugees and I don’t have much money to send him to receive a good education so that he can achieve better things,” Mohammad said.
In Myanmar, Rohingya are denigrated as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, denied citizenship, and subjected to tight restrictions on freedom of movement.
The United Nations has said the 2017 military crackdown was carried out with genocidal intent.
Myanmar denies any genocide, saying it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.
(Additional reporting and writing by Ruma Paul; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
