Loss and longing: A teenage refugee’s story

Her name is Raahila*. She is twelve years old. I could imagine her being at school right now, making the big step to go to secondary school. But she’s not. And when she looks straight at me, I can almost feel the pain in her eyes. She’s a refugee whom just weeks ago escaped the horrors of violence in Myanmar. Her mom did not, she got killed. All at once Raahila is the caretaker of the family. She cooks, she cleans and makes sure her two little sisters are alright. Her father is at the little make-shift-shelter hospital that has been set up in the refugee camp. He’s not been feeling well since they arrived. Raahila has no tears anymore. She cried them already. Later, when I meet her father… he cries them for her… lots of them. Raahila wants to go back to Myanmar, there where she was born. But only if it is safe. A story of loss and longing. Belonging. Raahila is just one of the 22,000 refugees that Medair served with shelter- and hygiene kits