Story of Her

On the busy streets of  Cox’s bazaar, amidst men queued up in refugee medical camp, children lined to grab some food, souls with tired eyes and disturbed minds. Fathima, a fifteen year celibate queen, morale angel, pure soul was she until her skirt was stained with brute eyes of those Myanmar devils! Her lame walk had a wild story to be unclosed. Working for an NGO I was there in the dense populated refugee camp for the first time. Though the big scar on her cheeks terrified me, her lanky figure urged me speak to that little girl.

          “We all knew the current problems that surrounded us, though my mother urged to leave the state, we had some money to get from debtors that forced us to stay in hometown. One day during the dusky hours, there came eight military men, opening the door ferociously, checking out for jewels, money and swiped away everything. We screamed in fear, screeched for help, but all in vain. My clothes were torn, hands tied, legs apart, naked me could do nothing than squawking for help. One man shouted,” shut up!” and that gunshot killed my father in front of us. Poor mother, she screamed for help but she was forced to see the assault”.

          She paused and with blood red eyes she said, “All I could do was to yelp for help and bleed for days!” she started crying uncontrollably and the burning temperature coerced us towards shade, and finally to her improperly constructed little tent. I knew that four square meter tent had more tragedy to reveal.

          “Aw…..aw….”, the baby cried.

“Your baby?”

“Yes”, she smiled, feeding that little creature.

There I could sense the brutality she could have faced looking at her breasts, chests and punctured body.

          “Now she is my world and I struggle to live just for her!”, she kissed her princess.

          As I don’t want to disturb her peace of mind so I waited for the baby to get asleep, while taking glance at the unhygienic tent. Unfortunately I believe she had nothing to dress her daughter covering with a dirty towel.

          ”fifteen years is too young to give birth”, I commented.

          “There are victims as young as nine and ten,” she replied calmly.

“Now tell me how did you know about your pregnancy and how did you flee your hometown?”

“After three months,  I found me carrying someone’s child, my mother was totally dumbstruck, paralyzed already with my father’s death and we had no money, so we buried him in the backyard. It happened again after seven months. The five men army opened the door ajar, I was the victim again, but this time the wild animals did not leave the pregnant me. I fought for life, bleeding severely. My mom begged for my life and that was the last time for I saw her when a giant man pulled her outside the door and locked the door.”

“Do you know what is more painful than death?”

“Unknowing whether they are death!” tears rolled down her face.

“With the help of other women from Rakhine state, I managed to hide near hills and walking through the rough paths, without food, water. Thanks to those waterfalls that quenched our thirst, with very little money and more hopes, I managed to reach Bangladesh, the country that accepts refugees for more than three decades. Besides those stomach cramps, severe bleeding, I managed to walk and reached the camp. Finally gave birth to a baby girl on the very night I reached the camp. We have no access to sanitation here and my princess suffers from severe rashes and diarrhea.

I don’t want my child to confine in the walls of devils.

If knowledge is power,she should be king of it;

If managing is an skill , she should be master of it;

If loving is an art, she should be mother of it;

But if someone unnerve her,

She should be devil of it!”

Her bold words pictured her strong will power and warrior skills to fight for justice.

“if you were given a chance to meet allah what would you ask for?”

“I want to born as a man”

Looking at my puzzled face she replied,” To save women and bury the gender inequality!”

This was not just the story of her but thousands of Fathimas who fled Myanmar, striving for life!

-Inspired by NEWS

-15,500 babies expected this year by Rohinya women.

-58,700 women are pregnant of different months.

“Thought I, my problems are worse…

Until I found, they are just ripples in a bucket,

And are women who swim in Tsunami!”