Journey with us as we peel back the layers of life in the world's largest refugee camp - Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, through the lens of one of its residents. Mohammed Selim Khan, a Rohingya refugee himself, unravels the life he has known since 1992, dealing with the loss of his parents and facing the daily struggle to survive. Not only does he wear the hats of a fire safety instructor and journalist in the camp, but Mohammed's captivating photos have earned him recognition in the Rohingya Photo Competition.
This episode is a raw, unfiltered glimpse into a world far-removed from the usual, brought to life by the poignant storytelling and visual imagery of our guest. Get to know Mohammed as he shares the grit, resilience, and hope of the camp's inhabitants, captured through his photography. From safety workshops to prevent child drownings to powerful black and white images that speak a thousand words, Mohammed's narrative offers a profound perspective on the human spirit's tenacity in the face of adversity. Listen in and be moved by his compelling tale of survival, resilience, and hope in the world's largest refugee camp.
Journey with us as we peel back the layers of life in the world's largest refugee camp - Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, through the lens of one of its residents. Mohammed Selim Khan, a Rohingya refugee himself, unravels the life he has known since 1992, dealing with the loss of his parents and facing the daily struggle to survive. Not only does he wear the hats of a fire safety instructor and journalist in the camp, but Mohammed's captivating photos have earned him recognition in the Rohingya Photo Competition.
This episode is a raw, unfiltered glimpse into a world far-removed from the usual, brought to life by the poignant storytelling and visual imagery of our guest. Get to know Mohammed as he shares the grit, resilience, and hope of the camp's inhabitants, captured through his photography. From safety workshops to prevent child drownings to powerful black and white images that speak a thousand words, Mohammed's narrative offers a profound perspective on the human spirit's tenacity in the face of adversity. Listen in and be moved by his compelling tale of survival, resilience, and hope in the world's largest refugee camp.
Stephen Barden:
Welcome to Migrant Odyssey. In this series, I talk to refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and those who have moved countries for a better life. Some are still stuck in refugee camps after decades, some have never seen their homeland, some have never left their homeland but have been forcibly displaced by war and the destruction of their environment. And some the lucky few have settled in their new countries and brought with them skills, ambitions, new ideas and wonderfully diverse histories. Why am I doing this podcast? For many reasons. One of them is that the world is indivisible. What happens out there, be that war, poverty, drought, climate change didn't start out there in isolation and sure as nuts won't stay out there. People are on the move, some looking for safety, some looking for better opportunities. The fact that they are doing so doesn't make them less clever, less able or simply less. It actually makes them more, more courageous, more imaginative, and I hope you'll hear that in each story in this podcast. We forget that the modern day prosperous countries were built on huge waves of migrants. Some were dragged across the slaves, some came seeking refuge and some new opportunities, and today, ironically, we view their descendants with trepidation when they bring all the things we desperately need ambition, diversity, resourcefulness and hope. So, yes, this podcast is a platform to change your assumptions and a place for our migrants and they are our migrants to tell their stories.
Stephen Barden:
Today I'm talking to Mohammed Salim Khan, who's one of one million Rohingya refugees in the world's biggest refugee camp in a narrow strip of land called Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. He describes himself on social media as a photographer, and I've seen some wonderful photographs of his a journalist, an interpreter, a fixer and translator and an emergency preparedness and rescue response instructor. Mohammed, welcome to the podcast. I'm really pleased you were able to make it. Most people, Mohammed, in this part of the world certainly my part of the world think of refugee camps as sort of temporary sites with, possibly, tents and a few tin shacks. But there are one million refugees in Cox's Bazaar who have been fleeing there since when around 1978, is that right? Mohammed Selim: No 92. StephenBarden: 92 they came the first time. Okay, could you tell me something about it? Remembering that this is an audio podcast, could you tell me something about what Cox's Bazaar is like? How many camps are there? About what sort of housing is there? Could you just describe it for us?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Here, 33 Rohinga refugee camps.
Stephen Barden:
Mohammed Salim Khan: How many houses is uncounted, that's our biggest number Stephen Barden: and what are the houses made of?
mohammed Salim Khan:
made by bamboo and tarpaulin, that is.
Stephen Barden:
And are there roads, is there sewage, anything like that. Mohammed Salim Khan: Yeah, roads yeah, Stephen Barden:-- and what about schools and hospitals and medical facilities? What are they like?
mohammed Salim Khan:
We have a school here that is known from that school, so that's me. We have the facility only up to class 5, that's by NGO. And we have also hospitals here. If we face any problem we can go to that clinic. We have clinic here If there is any emergencies. We have some problem, that is, you know, we are living in the biggest world refugee camps. The road is not easy to walk. We have lots of mountains here. The road is not easy everywhere. If we have any emergency patient we have to carry by ourselves. Hopefully you have seen also a picture that I uploaded one day ago. So our situation is like that. So when we come to the clinic, if the doctor thinks that we need to send others emergency clinic, then they refer and then we go to other facilities, which is foreign.
Stephen Barden:
So, Mohammed Salim, there are around a million people right in the area. So how many doctors are there? How many schools are there for the entire area? Is the clinic just for your camp?
mohammed Salim Khan:
No, no, no. Every single camp we have clinic. Every single camp we have school. So the problem is that we are one million and the biggest problem is that here is prohibited to vehicles. That's why we don't got any vehicle for the emergency patient also. So when we come to the clinic, then the doctor decide they need to refer.
Stephen Barden:
So you're saying there are no vehicles around and allowed in the camp, so therefore everybody has to walk.
mohammed Salim Khan:
The thing is for only Rohingya refugee. So who are the doctors? Who are the injured people? They have the vehicle, some of the injured staff also. They also go by walk.
Stephen Barden:
The Rohingya are not allowed to have a vehicle. Is that correct? Mohammed Salim Khan:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stephen Barden:What is the reason for that?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Our security is thinking about our safety. If vehicle is not running around camp, that is good for us. They are thinking like that. Security is the - security is thinking.
Stephen Barden:
So class 5 goes up to what age?
mohammed Salim Khan:
That is 12, 14, sometimes that is.
Stephen Barden:
That's when you end the school right. There's no more school after that. There's no further education.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, there's no facilities for school after the class 5. We do know that some if we can, have an opportunity to run by ourselves. Like here is some private school which is built by not built. That's also in Chalper which is run by community teacher. Some of the boys and girls go there for the learning.
Stephen Barden:
So let's talk a bit about you. Tell me, where do you live. Do you live with your family? Who is your family? Can you tell me something about your own personal circumstances?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, so my family came in 1992 at Bangladesh when there was a brutal campaign against Rohingya in Myanmar. Then my parents came to re fugee, camp. So I'm the person who never ever seen my country and the home village. Even now I have lost my parents here. I have also family right now, so we have already passed more than 30 years.
Stephen Barden:
Did I understand you correctly? You said, you've lost your parents here.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, I lost my parents here. They already died. Stephen Barden: When was that? Mohammed Salim: The reason was that they were sick and died because of that, there was not any accident. That's, what happened.
Stephen Barden:
and they must have been quite young, right? Is that correct, yeah?
mohammed Salim Khan:
they were very unhappy because they wished to make me a great journalist or something else they were thinking like that.
Stephen Barden:
What did your parents tell you about the time before they left Myanmar and also their journey to Bangladesh?
mohammed Salim Khan:
When I was ten here I made them some questions, mom, why we are here. We are human. I have seen a lot of people who are living around us. They have nice houses, they can go to nice schools, they can go whatever they like. They were very emotional and then they told me that the refugee life is like this. But we do not we tried our level best to try and stay in our country. So the problem was that when the Myanmar government had brutal campaign against th e Rohynga then they got afraid too much and they also tortured some of our people. When they see, at that time they got afraid. After that they took the decision to come Bangladesh after that they become refugees. You should understand one thing no one wants to be a refugee. That's not so.
Stephen Barden:
Yeah, that's absolutely right, and the journey to Bangladesh must have been a very hard one as well, right, and it must have taken some time.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, they also shared with me that they needed five days. They were in the hillside three days. They didn't get any food to eat because when they were coming they just came in with their children. At that time my parents, we had five more children with them, so they took them and on the road there was not any vehicle assistance,so they came by walk. So that was very hard journey for them and unforgettable thing.
Stephen Barden:
You've got brothers and sisters and you have your own family now.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, I have own family. Now I had five brothers, including me six. So two already died also. One died three years ago, one died six months ago. Now we are four brothers. No, it's okay. It's okay. So we have separate family Because we are living in very congested area where it's not possible to stay every family member in a room. That's why I live in a shelter with my family. My other brother stay another shelter with his family, like that. We are in town also Same thing. that is. have you got married? Yeah, I got married. I have children.
Stephen Barden:
How many children?
mohammed Salim Khan:
I have two children. I'm lucky, I'm a lucky father. I say I'm Both are girls. Lovely lovely Baraka, baraka.
Stephen Barden:
What about religion? Is there mosques in the camp and are you able to practice religion? You're able to practice Islam.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So about that we are very good here because this is also Islamic country. For that we never, ever get any hearts. We are okay with that. Just a little bit different we are going to pray, to practice, little mosques so who are the host community, they have the biggest. That's very different. Other thing is completely fine.
Stephen Barden:
I'd like to talk about your work later, but I just wanted to ask a couple more questions about so the Myanmar government refused to recognize the Rohingya citizens since, I think, 1982, right, so you were stateless there. Has the Bangladeshi government recognized you as as refugees, or are you still stateless?
mohammed Salim Khan:
I'm recognised as a refugee. So my Myanmar, government, military, they have refused to accept us as a citizenship and they're not happy to give the facilities to us like as other ethnic that is. So is a long years. It's not only 92. It was happening Before 92. They've been torturing us systematically. There was another refugee before 92. There was another influx. Some of our Rohingya people became refugee since 92 since 2012 and then 2000 2017 was the big impact.
Stephen Barden:
Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, so 1982 was in fact. Was that right when the Myanmar government sort of completely made the Rohingya stateless right 1982? How do you make a living in the camp? Can you? Are you able to work? Are you allowed to work? How do you get money? Get money and how do you get food.
mohammed Salim Khan:
I personally, that is, if you want here the same about food. We are getting $8, only eight USD dollar for month for a person.
Stephen Barden:
Let me turn some, if I may, to to you personally. Can you tell me something of your day-to-day life? I mean, what, for example, did you do Yesterday? What was the big thing you did yesterday?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, I did that job. There was a delegation and they also checked about my job area and they also said that I'm working as a fire safety instructor for safety rescue instructor. So they come to my place and they also check fire safety equipment. They also check If there is any emergencies. We have some fire equipment here we use.
Stephen Barden:
So this delegation came from who? Who sent the delegation? Where did they come from?
mohammed Salim Khan:
That's from organization where I do job.
Stephen Barden:
I was reading, when I was researching you, that you work preventing and investigating child drownings. Are there a lot of drownings in the area Mohammed? And why is that the case?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Oh, that's really an amazing question. I'm happy to give the answer. So you know we have a big problem at COVID-19. So there is, the biggest challenge is that more than Covid infection, died more people by drowning than COVID effected. So this was our biggest challenge thing here, that is. So we have tried COVID a lot so we lost few people. Compared to that, we lost more people by drowning here, like people, men, children, we are children and also masi at one or two. The problem is that we have round here, we have little channels here, so we are living very congested places. Our children most of the kids who found that that they shall go to school, so that's ever day that's with family friends, brother, someone else, like that. So sometimes they are separated so that they took the decision and go to play at that dangerous beach area or place. Then most of the cases happened like that.
Stephen Barden:
So do you as part of your work? Do you have to patrol around to check that the children are alright? Is that some of the work you do?
mohammed Salim Khan:
No, no, no. What I do that is, if drowning happen in any camp, when I get that information then I go to their parents to take the interview how to happen? Because we need to take the experience, because here, giving support, you know share and I want so. The two are the mother organization. They're helping a lot to us. So here are a lot of partners are working with them. If the partner get any type of case like that and they share you know share and because when they share then they take initiative how to prevent on this.
Stephen Barden:
I want to now turn it to something that you do really beautifully, which is your photography. I've seen some of your work, and your black and white images of your grandmother, for example, of the survivors of the fire and that child wading through the water in the flooding, really do say much more than a thousand words. I mean, they are very beautiful. I mean, how did you get into the photography and what are you trying to do with the photography? Is it because you simply love images? You simply love taking photographs? Are you trying to say something more as well with your work?
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, I'm doing this for my nation because we are a persecuted nation, ethnic group. So we are living in camp. We are facing different types of challenge. Every year we're fading different types of challenge. Therefore, I take the picture. I'd like to see the world, what is going on, our situation. When the people see the picture, then people have all to understand what kinds of life we are surviving here. I'd like to show our crisis to the world by my picture. That's my aim.
Stephen Barden:
Do you send them to agencies? Where is your work available for people to buy or to see?
mohammed Salim Khan:
If they hear of an y incident, then who are the media partners that write to me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, whatever they like, they write and share. When they like any of my images, videos, then I share them. There is a website named Rohingya Photo Competition, so on that website a lot of my work over there and people also sometimes go to th at and select some.
Stephen Barden:
That's Rohingya Photo Competition. Right? You won a prize, didn't you? You won an award for your work.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, yeah, I got that award from there.
Stephen Barden:
I mean they really are. You should be very proud of your work. They really are very beautiful. I like photography a lot and I think you just have created some very special work.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Yeah, you want to see some more, then you should visit my Instagram. Then you'll get lots of photos. Also In LinkedIn I post a few compared to Instagram. At Instagram you can see a lot of history of me. That is where my work has been published, like the Guardian, the Business Standard, that is a local paper of here. There's the Tribunal that's also a local paper of here. Al Jazeera and so many over there, and there are also some things you can see where my photos have been exhibited.
Stephen Barden:
So all the information about this Wonderful Anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to tell me?
mohammed Salim Khan:
I'd like to tell you that I'm so happy because you are also a refugee. I'm also a refugee. As a refugee being here trying to broadcast these types of things to make understand people about refugee life in different countries, different camps, I'm also happy that, as a refugee being here, I'm able to share my history to you. According to that, this will go to lots of people. So when the people listen about our life, then there will be, some will be emotional, some of - will help to understand about our exact life.
Stephen Barden:
Inshallah, my friend Inshallah. Thank you very, very much. All the best and of course, we will talk some more at some other stage.
mohammed Salim Khan:
Okay, thank you so much.
Stephen Barden:
Today's guest was Mohammed Salim Khan, photographer, journalist, fixer for such organizations as Al Jazeera, emergency worker and Rohingya refugee in the world's largest refugee camp at Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. If you want to see or buy his extraordinary photographs, please go to his Instagram account, mohammed Salim Khan, or on LinkedIn. Mohammed Selim is also an award winner for his work, which can be seen on Rohingyaphoto - all one word - dotcom. Until the next time. This is Stephen Barden. This has been Migrant Odyssey.