Senahar (thanaka), a type of traditional make-up made of tree bark that people from Myanmar have been wearing for thousands of years. Unlike every Rohingya girls, Rubijan, Nur Kiyas and Hasina have been applying Senahar paste, a traditional make-up since they were little in Myanmar. This make-up is so important that schools of Myanmar wouldn’t allow unless they had it on their faces.
One of the girls from Rohingya refugee camps, Hasina, wears senahar and testifies to its uplifting quality: “When I put on senahar, I feel happy in myself. I don’t feel sadness in my heart.”
Hasina’s friend Rubijan adds, “We wear this senahar to look beautiful.” She adds, “We had to leave Burma (Myanmar) because the men fired on us, slaughtered us, killed us by firing. They put them in sacks, cut them in pieces, and put fire on our homes. We had to come here, we ran away because we were afraid of being shot.”
Hasina also describes, “I didn’t go out on the road alone if the men came, they would take us away, or they would throw us in canals or leave us on the road dead. One time, I went to school with my friends, there we saw armed men coming, and we were running towards our home. Some other men blocked our way. We jumped into the canal and went to the other side.”
Rubijan explains, “We were coming from Burma (Myanmar). We had to walk through this much mud like we could pull one leg and couldn’t pull another. We had to cross the canals, crossed the canals with water up to the neck.”
These young Rohingya children have endured and faced so much horror and oppression in such a small age that, they now seek peace at the IRC’s Women and Girl’s Safe Space, funded by the European Union which provides important respite away from the camp, counselling and information on women’s rights and hygiene. Nonetheless, for Hasina and Rubijan it’s first and foremost a place where they can relax, play and express themselves.
Hasina explains, “If I stay home, I’m always feeling sad about Burma (Myanmar). Coming here (the centre) I can see people, feel happy. I can play. I come here for peace.”
Living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya girls struggle to relax and express themselves.
IRC’s EU funded safe space for women and girls offers the chance for them to be children again.
Editor’s Note: This article was inspired from https://www.rescue-uk.org/article/rohingya-girls-are-keeping-traditional-make-after-fleeing-myanmar
Special THANKs to International Rescue Committee for all the good works they are doing for the Rohingya people.
