By: RO Maung Shwe
DW Ibrahim is a passionate Rohingya youth and a professional motivational speaker in the Rohingya language. He serves as a co-founder of the MET Channel, an initiative dedicated to creating meaningful content in the Rohingya language.
The Mission of MET Channel:
The MET Channel was created in 2020 with the aim of producing impactful content that inspires, educates, and raises awareness within the Rohingya community. Its focus areas include motivational topics, emotional storytelling, life lessons, medical awareness, and short film dramas. By creating such content, the channel seeks to engage its audience and foster positive change within the community.
The Team Behind MET Channel:
The channel is driven by the efforts of ten dedicated Rohingya youths who work tirelessly to achieve their mission. Founders DW Ibrahim and AM Anis initiated the channel with a vision to empower the Rohingya community. The core members of the channel such as Md Junaife, Md Shuaib, Md Omar, Rabiullah, Jamal Hossain, Sadek Hossain, Abul Osman, and Md Anowar have each played crucial roles in the production and management of the channel’s content.
Key Areas of Awareness:
The MET Channel addresses several critical issues within the Rohingya community through its videos and campaigns:
- Promoting Education. Many Rohingya children are not actively participating in school or pursuing education. Recognizing that a strong foundation for the younger generation is vital for the community’s future, MET Channel emphasizes the importance of education to ensure the survival of the Rohingya identity and heritage.
- Combating Human Trafficking. Human trafficking poses a severe challenge to the Rohingya people. Traffickers lure young boys with promises of better opportunities in countries like Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. However, the reality often involves danger, suffering, and the need for families to pay substantial sums to bring their loved ones back. MET Channel raises awareness to protect the youth from these traps.
- Preventing Child Marriage. Child marriage is a growing issue in the Rohingya community, posing life-threatening risks to young girls due to physical complications. MET Channel advocates for adhering to the Bangladesh government’s legal marriage age—18 years for girls and 21 years for boys—to ensure healthier and more stable futures.
- Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles. Many in the Rohingya community face health challenges due to poor diet and a lack of physical well-being. This leads to chronic conditions such as hypertension (HTN), diabetes (DM), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and communicable diseases like dengue, scabies, malaria, and acute watery diarrhea (AWD). The channel promotes health awareness to prevent and manage these illnesses.
- Fighting the Dowry System. The dowry system creates financial burdens for families, forcing many to consider desperate measures, such as marrying off their daughters to traffickers’ promises of a better future abroad. MET Channel works to challenge this harmful tradition and encourage fair practices.
- Promoting Women’s Empowerment and Engagement. Women’s participation in community activities is crucial. In Myanmar, many women faced barriers to accessing healthcare and other essential services. MET Channel emphasizes the importance of female empowerment and social participation through video messages.
Vision:
The MET Channel envisions becoming a leading platform for impactful storytelling and education in the Rohingya language. By fostering an informed, motivated, and united community, it aims to preserve the Rohingya cultural identity while addressing critical social issues.
Current Activities:
In addition to its regular activities, MET Channel has recently expanded its initiatives to include promotional activities for other causes. The team has also ventured into producing drama videos to reach a wider audience and engage them through relatable stories.
Popular Drama Videos
- “Friendship vs Love” – The first drama video published on social media explores the dynamics between friendship and love. Watch here.
- “Soñró Takite Góró Uzzu” – A widely acclaimed drama addressing community issues. Watch here.
- “Unqualified Boss” – Another popular drama highlighting the challenges of leadership and incompetence. Watch here.
Since the establishment of MET Channel, we have not received any support or funding from any sources. However, we continue all activities through the collective contributions of our core members, covering expenses for items like cameras, laptops, and other necessary equipment.
We do not expect anything except for our Rohingya community to become aware of the issues we aim to explain to them. Furthermore, if we receive any support or funding, we can extend our activities. Currently, we can only produce awareness videos weekly because we also need to support our families. If we receive support, we will be able to work more actively.
Through these initiatives, MET Channel continues to be a beacon of hope and change for the Rohingya community, driven by the dedication of its talented youth leaders like DW Ibrahim and his team.
Contact:
E-mail: rometchannel981@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +8801863112062
