A Kingston woman went to Bangladesh to bring vital medicine to refugees fleeing persecution, and has described the “heart-breaking” situation there.
Genevieve Jones-Hernandez, who works for charity Humanitas, flew in and trekked to Balukhali, a huge camp near the border with Myanmar.
She said: “We have worked with refugees across Europe, and when we started seeing what was going on we decided we had to do something. That’s why I work for a charity in the first place.
“These people are on the point of starvation. Every day was quite different. There was an encounter on the border – when we turned up, people were collapsing on the floor.
“Our medics were basically seeing the worst cases. Two people were critical. We had to repatriate them and rush them to hospital. One of the ladies’ pulses had gone due to starvation and dehydration. We managed to get her to the field hospital.”
Since August this year at least 600,000 Rohyingya people have fled violence in Myanmar and gone into Bangladesh.
The two countries reached an agreement to bring some refugees home on November 23, but the humanitarian crisis remains.
Ms Jones-Hernandez said: “We want people to know it’s happening. As far as the eye can see there are extreme cases of poverty. It’s just heart-breaking.”
You can support Humanitas at humanitascharity.org/refugee-crisis.
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