Hope Through Writing

Writing has been my pastime since my childhood, but frankly speaking, I never thought I would become the poet and writer I am today, not in my wildest dreams. It was when I was at my lowest ebb that I was exposed to writing.

In August 2017, when the Myanmar military blatantly carried out the so-called 'Clearance Operation', and burned down my home, I had to flee to Bangladesh where I found a bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelter in what is now the world's largest refugee camp largely referred to as an open-air prison.

After becoming a refugee, I was no longer the person I was back in my hometown. I lost my dream of becoming a doctor and hope for a better future. At that time, I chose poetry as a tool for purging my fractured soul, and amplifying the voice of my marginalised people. Thereupon it has become my means for resilience, resistance and existence.

Back in our homeland, we were herded into a ghetto-like existence and cowed into silence. Having had so much to speak out, we had to remain silent for the sake of survival. Silence was a practice for us because speaking up the truth means choosing death. From teenagers to elders, we were well informed of the necessity of silence against the persecution we endured.

Now that we are herded into what is an open-air prison, what the world knows about us is that we are humanitarian recipients and dependent on humanitarian aid.

It is very disgraceful to me that the world considers my people voiceless. I don't want the world to define us this way. We are people who can tell our own stories if and when the world listens to us. This has been my means for writing apart from consoling myself.

Initially, I have started my writing with poetry. Later I started writing stories as well. Through writing, I have discovered hope that went up in smoke when my home was burned down and I had to flee.

In my childhood, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. Now that I am a poet and writer, I feel like I am doing the best thing. Now, I don't regret that I couldn't be the doctor I once aspired to be. I am proud to shoulder this responsibility as a poet and writer for my people at a time when it matters the most. I simply believe that if I don't tell the stories of my people, who will? When I write, I feel my humanity and existence.

In the world that denies treating me as a human being, it is through writing that I exist as a human being at least in a world I imagine.