Delhi’s Rohingyas Adapt to Camp Life, Months After Fire Tragedy

The newly built encampment at Madanpur Khadar for rehabilitation of the Rohingya families. 

(Photo: Eisha Hussain/The Quint)

Kulsuma Khatoon, 31, sitting outside a shanty with other women from the camp on a hot summer afternoon, complained, “There is nothing left here for us after the fire. We don’t even have proper toilets.”

After a massive fire in April reduced the Rohingyas’ settlement at Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar to ashes and rendered the families more vulnerable than ever, an encampment has been built for the affected 55 families a few meters away from where the fire broke out.

A garbage dump meets the eye as one moves further into the camp.

On summer afternoons, kids roam around to avoid the sweltering heat inside the tents.

Hajira, a widowed mother of four young kids, works as a domestic help at houses in the nearby locality.

“Before the fire broke out, we lived in multi-storey shanties,” said Shakir Rehman, 26, one of the representatives of Rohingya refugees.

Having had to re-start their life from scratch after the fire, almost all residents now live in tiny huts with little or no space for the family to sit or lie down comfortably. These confined makeshift houses also double up as kitchens and, in many cases, as bathrooms for women.

A sneak peek into one of the Rohingya refugee tents.

Most refugee families in the camp depend on donations made by residents of the surrounding areas for their monthly ration requirements. They, otherwise, only get to eat boiled rice and spinach leaves.

A month’s ration is a “fortune” for them.

“Fearing another mishap like the fire that broke out in April this year, the men in the camp sleep in shifts,” explained Shakir.

The sleeping arrangements inside a tent.

Privacy is a luxury for all these families, who often have to share the tent with other families; their living spaces separated merely by a bed sheet or a curtain-like cloth.

With flimsy sheets being used as a separation, privacy, even inside the tents, is unachievable.

Abdul, 11, talks about having a bigger house some day.

A bathroom within the tent is a privilege that not every family can afford.

Children, as young as 8, often fetch water for domestic purposes.

With only two tanks in the encampment, the refugees often run out of water.

Women washing clothes outside a common toilet built especially for the kids and women.

Men walk back to their tents after performing the afternoon prayers in the mosque.

The residents, on being asked about their homes, reminisced the peaceful and comfortable lives they led before the outbreak of the violence; some even explaining how their previous houses would easily be more than 10 times as big as the makeshift houses they currently live in.

Imam Hussain, 60, crossed two international borders to reach India.

Abdullah, 63, looks out for his grandkids as they play. 

The Rohingyas’ faith in God still remains alive despite facing endless hardships.

(Eisha Hussain is a freelance journalist currently pursuing an MA in Convergent Journalism at AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia. She tweets @veraciousdame)