A Letter to Young People. Rohingya Refugee Camps.

A LETTER TO YOUNG PEOPLE                                                                   MARCH 13, 2025

ROHINGYA REFUGEE CAMPS.

Dear young people,

I am writing to you because you are worried. You have been deprived of home and minimum essentials for many years. Now the under-resourced World Food Program has announced that your food aid will be cut by half—that was your major lifeline to survival. You may not be able to meet your basic calorie needs. You feel helpless for the kids, and the elderly around you.

Also at this moment, your camps are being used to recruit young fighters to join the war back home in Myanmar—but do not accept the idea that you have no option but to fight. Talk with your friends; don't let them be drawn into a greater violence and uncertainties between the military and other armed groups.

You will be tired, you will feel abandoned. You will be angry that you are being squeezed by circumstances not of your own making---but you have to survive. And you have to plan. You can have better days ahead. For that, you will have to marshal your energies, your collective will power, and reach for those good things.

There are many who are scrambling right now trying to figure out how to help. With powerful governments cutting off aid, and international organizations dependent on that funding to carry out their programs, people of goodwill will quickly have to find their bearings.

And so do you.

Your greatest advantage is that you have “youthfulness” on your side. Your bodies are resilient, your minds not trapped by old ideas, and your spirit is not crushed.

You have another advantage. You have built youth networks in the camps—the first, most important step, in helping yourselves.

Now you have to find a way to act collectively— this is the hard part. Because it going to take a lot of discussion, a lot of humility, a lot of work to find common agreements within each group, and between youth groups across different camps.

How will you manage internal order within the camps? How will you demand accountability from those who have power over your bodies and spaces and options? What are your priorities? Don’t accept the assumptions of others about your needs –speak collectively, speak clearly, look for cooperative solutions. If plan A cannot be funded, what is a creative solution, an acceptable plan B that can be supported at a lesser cost?

Use that phone in your hand. Connect with the world— scour for new ideas, find allies, purposefully build your own capacities.

In the world of social media, is there a demand for video editing skills? Is there a livelihood to be made here? Hydroponic agriculture? Could this help you become more food secure in the land-scarce camps? How different groups have organized to keep themselves safe from armed gangs? Might such knowledge help you think about solutions for your own internal security?

Your entire future is ahead of you. Don’t count on aid. Figure out what you need, and find allies who will help you get there.

There is goodwill, but you have to count on your own efforts. 

Yours,

Prof. C

Global Center for Youth Futures. Atlanta.