Ethnic Rohingya Children Start New Life In Malaysia

KUANTAN (Pahang), July 16 (Bernama) -- Rohingya refugee, Shobirahman Amir Hossin, 18, and his two sisters braved a month-long dangerous journey from Myanmar to join his parents in Penang to seek a better life. Although the journey from their home village in Myanmar was filled with dangers and various uncertainties, it was nothing compared to the oppression thefaced in Myanmar. Shobirahman who is now studying at Rohingya Education Centre (REC) in Indera Mahkota, near here, said life in his home village in Narekoh, Rakhine, Myanmar was very different compared to the environment here. "In 2008, when I was nine years old, my parents had already moved to Penang then and they paid certain parties to bring me and my sisters from our village as the situation was getting unsafe for Muslims," he said when met by Bernama. He said in Myanmar he was prevented from going to mosque and school and they were frequently victimised by the authorities in Myanmar. "The adults were not allowed to go out to work and life was miserable," he said. Shobirahman and his family have since moved to Kuantan where his mother is working in the vegetable section of a supermarket. Asked if he still wanted to return to his home village in Narekoh, he was silent for a while. "My relatives and friends are still there and I pray the situation in the village is getting better and I hope to return one day," he said. In this regard, REC headmaster Amran Talib@Talip said Rohingya children needed to be educated to ensure a bright future for them. He said the Rohingya children are clever and learn fast and should be able to go far. REC Kuantan was set up by the Future Global Network (FGN) and is funded by the Albukhary Foundation. It is monitored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The school has 130 Rohingya students of various ages encompassing children from four villages in Kuantan and REC uses the national school curriculum and even the teachers are Malaysians. -- BERNAMA