This is an exodus in our time. Almost a million people have fled from a land that has rejected, killed and maimed them. An exodus of devastating misery on a Biblical scale has happened in our time. When this first happened, it was world news. The camera crews have now left, but the human crisis is getting worse by the day.
“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” – Psalms 46:1
As a matter of utmost urgency: please send a donation to help the Rohingya people – especially those among them, like Saleha, who have a life-affecting disability.
Saleha’s story is incredible. Strangers risked death to save her. They rushed back across the border to carry her from a minefield but now they cannot afford the basics of life, health or rehabilitation.
Saleha had run for her life from the marauding squads in Myanmar that were burning houses – with people in them! – and shooting families as they fled. Saleha left everything. She did not know what lay ahead, but she would be killed if she did not get across the border into Bangladesh. The border was close, just across a field… but that field was littered with landmines.
Almost safe… just a few steps away… and then her legs were torn apart as a landmine exploded under her foot.
Surely, this was the end for Saleha. But no. Safe across the border, some of her fellow Rohingya refugees heard the explosion. Saleha’s rescuers didn’t hesitate. They ran back, risking death and grave injury to themselves. They carried her gently across the border, placed her in a rickshaw and rushed her to hospital.
That despairing young man who brought Saleha out of the minefield seemed certain she would die, but kindness, care and generous donations like yours mean she can walk again! On remarkable new legs!
She is very grateful for the love shown to her. First, by good Samaritans in the minefield. Then, by kind and generous supporters like you, who generously paid for her new legs.
“I didn’t think I’d walk again! They feel like my own legs somehow. I can feel their weight. I’m feeling happy!”
As marvellous as those legs are, you can see that conditions in the camps are very basic. Life in a refugee camp is gruelling, particularly for people living with disabilities.
On the storm-swept coast of Bangladesh people huddle in misery, struggling with all kinds of disabilities.
“It’s very stressful mentally,” Saleha said. “I have to rely on my son for daily activities like going to the bathroom and bathing. Life in the camp has been difficult.”
Please bring hope to those living in despair and with disabilities in the challenging and disadvantaged refugee camps by supporting nurses, doctors, medical treatment and assistive devices like Saleha’s legs.
The wounds and heartbreak of refugees can last for generations.
They have suffered the worst persecution in the world. There are so many with disabilities – and half of those are children. They cannot heal without your help.
People affected by disabilities always seem to be left out or sent to the back of every queue. Your donation will help provide medical care, physiotherapy, counselling, eye treatment, cataract surgery and devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, glasses, hearing aids, bamboo handrails and new limbs like Saleha’s prosthetic legs.
Take a moment to donate, because today is another day of unbearable misery among the landslides, mud and flooding of Cox’s Bazar. Everything they once called home has been stripped away and they are deeply heartbroken.
Please help, urgently. You have seen, with Saleha, how much difference your donation will make. Please make your generous gift for the Rohingya Refugees today.
