'Rohingya' by Maryam Atoyebi

A story is a reality on a canvass painted with the brushes of imagination. The young professor regarded the projector like it was an important artefact and read rather loudly to the students in the hall.

“I wish i could write this story or whatever this is called, very beautifully. But i can’t because I’m hungry and sick and hoarse from screaming for help. Death is like breakfast here, we never skip it; with side servings.

Home is not about having a roof or bed to sleep in, it’s anywhere security and calm is felt. I have never felt that in my fifteen years on earth. We were always on the lookout for a riot and three years ago, the biggest one happened.

My father told me with tears in his eyes that we’re like the bastard outcast children nobody wants to adopt. I argued with him and told him we were merely war stricken, he shook his head and said “No, The war ended a while ago, way before you were born but bloodthirst hung in the air gravely and sadly, we fit the target to kill”.

“Nobody wants Rohingya, son. We stand alone, can’t you see the world has looked the other way? How many bags of relief items have you ever seen? We will never have a home, and.. and….*sob*….”

He would go on to tell me how the military took women that included his elder sister as sex slaves in the past. He would also remind me of the terrible refugee camps that weren’t better than overcrowded poultries we had lived in.

My father now lies under the sea with the other people who died on this boat. We were dumped on a boat some weeks ago because we were too many and my father died after staying hungry for too long.

I have dreams of stumbling on an island and calling it home but my nightmares are of the thirty four infant corpses i saw while i was fleeing Rohingya with my father.

A boat is sailing along now and men are crying desperately for help, but i can’t even muster enough strength for a sob. This isn’t beautiful, it won’t end beautifully……”

Twelve years after, the story made the silverscreen, some Oscar nominations and “Rohingya” became the most searched word on the internet. Unfortunately the author of the story remained unknown, The story was found folded in a bottle by sea divers.

Fact:

1.Rohingyans are the most persecuted minorities in the world.

2. There are Rohingyans on a boat, on the sea right now.

Maryam Atoyebi is an elliptic Yoruba woman. She loves travelling, arts and she eats her Chicken sharwama in flat plate. She blogs at queenontheroad.wordpress.com and follow her on Instagram @malikah_maryam

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