The boat people: Rice for my mother

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

World Vision sent an assessment team to the asylum-seeker shelters in Aceh to meet with boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh this past weekend (20-21 June 2015). Here’s what we found:

Bibi sneaks a peek from behind her mother's shoulder and then looks away shyly without saying a word.

They both share a small emergency canvas cot in a health post under the tarpaulin. Four other patients lay in the cots too – Bibi is the only child. But Bibi isn’t sick. This four-year-old is keeping a close eye on her mother who she’s laying beside. Her mom hasn’t eaten in several days. She’s too heartbroken.

Bibi and her mother are just 2 of the Myanmar asylum seekers in an Aceh shelter. They arrived as a family of three in Aceh, Indonesia, 6 weeks ago after escaping their home in Rakhine state and floating on the Bay of Bengal for 12 weeks.

But now they are just 2.

Not long after the family arrived, Bibi’s younger brother – just 3 – died from an infected, untreated wound. The local Acehnese community buried the little boy in a village cemetery. No one in his family was strong enough to witness the process.

Since then, Bibi’s mother Mimi rarely eats.

"She can be healthy if she chooses to eat. But she refuses to eat and we don't know what to do when she does that. We can only help by giving an infused bottle [of liquid nutrients] to prevent dehydration, but she still needs to eat," said one of the health workers in the shelter.

Last night, Mimi passed out after not eating for several days. Bibi, worried, joined her mother as she was taken to the makeshift clinic. She’s stayed beside her mom’s side despite the toys and books available at the shelter.

This isn’t the place the family wants to be.

Bibi's father is working in Malaysia. When Mimi and the children escaped the persecution in their hometown in Myanmar on a boat, they left with a hope of being reunited in Malaysia.

But their hope crashed when they denied entry to Malaysia and abandoned on the sea. What was supposed to be a one month trip extended to two months. They don't know when, how, and if they will be able to gather as a family again.

Turned away from other countries, in May 2015 Aceh fishermen rescued more than 1,000 Myanmar asylum seekers and Indonesian government officials agreed to accommodate them for one year in a shelter. Most of the asylum seekers speak in the Myanmar language and are still learning to communicate with their host communities in Aceh.

However, in order to bring a thorough solution, cooperation from the international society is needed to help the Myanmar asylum seekers restore their dignity and rights. As she watches her mother lay in the cot with an infuse attached to her hand, Bibi seems afraid to hug Mimi. She just lies next to her, listening to a neighbour trying to persuade Mimi to eat.

Finally, when Mimi agrees to take a few spoons of plain rice, Bibi smiles. It’s not much, but it’s a step in the right direction.

World Vision Indonesia is currently working with the Humanitarian Forum Indonesia, to which World Vision is an active member. The forum’s aim is to create a plan to best assist the asylum-seekers in Aceh.

Humanitarian Forum Indonesia is the umbrella faith-based organization leading the humanitarian response for the asylum-seekers in Aceh. In line with this, World Vision Indonesia will be working with local government, other aid agencies and other stakeholders to help make life as smooth as possible for those asylum seekers who have arrived in recent months and are living in the shelters.

By Shintya Kurniawan, Media Relation officer, World Vision Indonesia