The SVD community in Myanmar has visited a refugee camp on the outskirts of Hmawbi Township, the town where they live, taking supplies to help the people survive in their precarious situation.
Fr Tuyen Nguyen, Fr Deva Savariyappan and Fr Mariusz Kubista visited the Rakahine refugee camp in Taikkyee Gone village to assist the people who have fled from their conflict-torn home, leaving behind their houses and livelihoods.
The refugees, who belong to the Ashochin Tribe, have fled from two villages of Paletwan township in Chin State bordering the Rakahine State where the armed conflict has intensified between the Arakan army (a Rakhine armed group in Myanmar) and the Myanmar military.
“The ongoing fighting has had a devastating effect on the people living around the area and thus displaced many people,” says Fr Deva.
“It is estimated that hundreds of refugees have fled from the fighting in Rakhine State, abandoning their houses, cattle, and fields among others.
“Most of the refugees have been accommodated in the government-run refugee camps in Rakahine state and Paletwan township in Chin State.
“The refugee camp we visited was one of the two camps outside the Rakhine and Chin States. The refugees, who are mostly Baptists travelled hundreds of miles to reach Taikkyee Gone Village in Hmawbi Township where a Chin Baptist pastor has offered them a temporary shelter in the land belonging to the Baptist church. There are 34 families of which five are Catholic and the rest, Baptist.”
Fr Deva says it was the second visit to the camp. Earlier in June this year Fr Tuyen had visited them shortly after the refugees had arrived, and helped them with some basic food items like rice, beans and onions.
“This time, all three members of the SVD community went there with the help of our local friends and government authorities.”
After a short introductory talk by Fr Deva, they distributed some basic needs for their daily survival. First, the children of the refugees were given packs containing biscuits, milk and sweets. This was followed by the distribution of 34 bags of rice, beans and onions to all the 34 families. All these were made possible through the effort of Fr Tuyen who was generously helped by his Vietnamese friends living in and around Yangon City.
“The people in this temporary camp want to work but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they cannot find any work,” Fr Deva says.
“Apart from their daily basic necessities, the immediate future need of the people is to find a permanent shelter.
“They have started a donation campaign to raise funds to buy land for their permanent shelter. Due to the trauma caused by war and the subsequent partial or total burning of some of their houses and villages, the refugees have no plan of going back to their native places. And no one knows when the fighting will end.”