Dear World - A Letter from A Rohingya Woman
Dear World…
Imagine being targeted and killed because of your religion. Imagine being burned to death, beaten, and raped because of what you believe in. Imagine being forced out of your home and dumped on a border between two countries and receiving aid from none.
Imagine being beaten to the point that the guards grow tired of it, so they pass you along to the citizens letting them have a go, as if you were a doll to be played with.
Imagine begging for death because death is a kindness compared to the reality around you. But you cannot imagine it can you? Because for you it sounds too far from your own reality for you to even begin to understand the chaos that is happening in the world around you.
Our normal is being sold into prostitution. Our normal is babies being thrown into pits of fire. Our normal is husbands being tied to trees with their wives’ hijabs and being forced to watch as their beloved wives are raped and then killed right in front of them. Our normal is 9-year-old girls being raped and beheaded in front of their families. Our normal is little children watching as their parents are shot and being forced to run away from their lifeless bodies lest they suffered the same fate. Why should this be our normal? Why should our normal be any different to yours? Do we not walk on the same earth? Do we not share the same organs? Am I not human?
You call it ethnic cleansing as if it means anything. This is no cleanse; this is a genocide. Humans being killed by the masses. Our home is made from tents and bamboo sticks. We lay on the cold, wet, muddy floor as you lay in your bed. Our toilet is but a makeshift one, moulded from mud.
Why are you silent? Your silence says more than you know. You may not be starting the fire or pulling the trigger.
You talk about us for five minutes; you feel sorry for us for five minutes and we’re on your tv for five minutes. You feel bad for us until you get of your phone or turn of your tv. Your heart aches for us until your distracted by celebrities or politicians. And then you forget. But we can’t just turn it off because we’re living it. This is our life, we are not just charity to be given, we are people too!
Dear World…
Your silence causes damage just as much as they do.
Dear World…
Say something.
Dear World…
Do something.
Dear World…
Help us.
