“Nobody was prepared for this. There are now 700,000 people trying to figure out how to survive in the middle of nowhere. A few months ago, this entire area was a national forest reserve. It was covered with trees. But the refugees had nothing when they arrived, so they started cutting the trees for fuel. Then they moved on to shrubs. Now they’ve dug up all the roots so there’s nothing left but loose soil. It’s too dangerous for them to go home so we’re trying to make the best of the situation. Almost all the refugees are living in plastic tents right now. They’re extremely vulnerable. So we’ve designed sturdy bamboo houses and we’re building them as fast as we can. We want to finish as many as possible before the monsoon season arrives.” —————————————— This week I’m sharing a series of first hand accounts from Rohingya refugees. Alongside these stories, we’ll meet a few of the wonderful people who are working to make the situation better. This is Immad– a construction coordinator for the humanitarian organization OBAT Helpers BD. Immad is a hero of our tale because he designed the bamboo houses that we are currently raising money to build. Our campaign has raised over $500,000 so far. That’s enough to build nearly 800 houses. Because each house can hold a family of six, that’s enough to shelter nearly 5,000 people. A pretty remarkable achievement, but there are still nearly a million refugees without homes. So if you haven’t already, please consider donating here: http://bit.ly/2H0w5lm











