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1982 Rohingya Displacement
Since 1982, the government of Myanmar denies citizenship to any Rohingya person and renders them stateless. -
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Living in Myanmar
JN was born in 1993, into a Muslim Rohingya family, in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, where his parents had lived there 50 years. He had a happy childhood and enjoyed his education, however since he was a part of an ethnic minority, in a Buddhist-majority country, he was bullied. They called them illegal immigrants, and even the government would deny their existence and would be given temporary residence cards rather than permanent citizenship. -
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Violence against Rohingya
In the Rakhine state, in 2012 security forces would regularly raid Rohingya homes, and dragged away anyone they found. They also specifically targeted young and educated people, which were seen as a threat to them and their power. multiple abducted dead bodies were found, and others are still missing. JN lost multiple close friends and family from this incident and lived in fear of death every day. -
Escaping Myanmar
in 2013, JN was studying physics at Sittwe university, which was a one-day sail away from his hometown. because of these terrible circumstances, he left without saying goodbye to his family, onboard a paddleboat with other Rohingya people. This journey led into Bangladesh, but to avoid getting sent to a refugee camp, he went to India, then China, and decided that Australia was the closest peaceful country. He risked his life and was shot at while crossing the border into Thailand to get through. -
Escaping Myanmar 2
From Thailand, JN crossed into Malaysia, and then Indonesia. However, when getting on a boat to Australia, he was arrested and sent back to Indonesia. -
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Hotel detention
For 3 months after he was deported to Indonesia, he was locked in a hotel room, awaiting further notice on transfers to refugee camps, or something of the sort -
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Detention Center
After the hotel, he was transferred to a detention center in south Sulawesi. it didn't have particularly good conditions and had high walls and tall electric fences to keep asylum seekers from escaping. JN stayed in this detention center for a year and a half -
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Community Shelter
After the detention center, JN was transferred to a community shelter, which was in Makassar, Indonesia. the refugees in this shelter were from many different countries' and had different pasts. Very often JN would wake up to the news of a refugee taking their life. the conditions weren't particularly good, but JN was able to make the best of it and attended online universities to learn political science and journalism. JN also wrote articles for many new outlets about human rights and refugees. -
The Relief of Canada
after about 5 years in a community shelter, JN's application to become a refugee in Canada was accepted. There was of course a lot more to be done, but the acceptance letter was freeing and gave lots of hope. when arriving in Canada, waiting for him there were his sponsors for his asylum application. His sponsors then brought him around, helping him get settled in, and even getting a bank account for the first time. -
Settling in...
After two weeks of quarentine, due to the pandemic, JN felt free, but there still were more steps to be taken to get fully incorporated and settled into Canada. later came his photo id and health care, and more and more documentation of residence, each giving more validation of belonging. finally, this April, JN got his permanent residence card and is grateful to have been given this opportunity and care. Now the next step is to pursue his passions, tell his story, and eventually, citizenship.