Dublin schools send messages of support after refugee camp fire

Students from two Dublin secondary school have offered words of support to those helping the survivors of the recent fatal fire in Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Transition year students from St Louis, Rathmines and Scoil Chaitríona, Glasnevin wrote to staff working for Concern Worldwide in Cox’s Bazaar after the March 22 blaze that killed 13 people and left 45,000 homeless.

“I was really sorry to hear about the fire, and the damage it caused. I hope you’ll be able to continue the great work,” said Meabh from St Louis.

Prior to the devastating blaze, the students took part in a virtual presentation from Concern’s emergency programme director in Bangladesh, Heather Macey, and her colleagues, to learn about life for the almost one million Rohingya refugees in the camp, who fled violence in their home country of Myanmar in 2017.

When the students learned of the huge fire, they sent messages to Heather and the Concern team to offer their words of support.

“I was very saddened to learn of the horrible incident in Cox’s Bazar camps,” said Andrea from Scoil Chaitríona.

“After hearing from you and your colleagues during the TY Academy, I felt a connection to you and the people living in the camps.  We are thinking of you.”

Andrea and Meabh were among 15 students from Concern’s TY Academy who contributed to the messages for the organisation’s team in Cox’s Bazaar.

The academy offers transition year students a flavour of what it is like to work for an international humanitarian organisation while learning how they can become active global citizens.

“The fire was a serious blow for communities who have suffered so much. We’re glad we were able to respond immediately as we had the team on the ground,” said Heather from Cox’s Bazaar.

“The messages from the students meant a lot to us all. The staff of Concern and our local partner SARPV worked with incredible commitment, tirelessly providing food and support and were uplifted when they read the messages.”

Concern’s immediate response, alongside local partner SARPV and volunteers from the Rohingya community, included providing 117,545 hot meals over ten days, distributing 13,920 food packages, while also screening children for malnutrition and referring them for treatment if needed.

Psycho-social first aid was also provided to help people traumatised by the fire and its aftermath.

Concern and its partners procured and distributed 2,499 essential kits which included cooking utensils.

With monsoon rains due this month there is an urgent need for people to have shelter and to be able to cook for their families as soon as possible. Concern also plans to distribute clothing and hygiene kits to women and adolescent girls.

Concern has been working in Bangladesh since 1972 and in Cox’s Bazaar since 2017.