Actress Priyanka Chopra visits Rohingya kids in Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Priyanka Chopra, actress and a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations’ children’s agency, said Thursday the world should be more compassionate to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children who desperately need help in Bangladeshi camps where they’ve been sheltered.
Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since late August to escape military-led violence and are now seeking U.N. protection to return home. Almost 60 per cent of the total refugees are children, and 60 babies are being born every day in camps in Bangladesh.
Many children crossed the border into Bangladesh without a parent, according to UNICEF. They saw violence, dead bodies, burned homes while many saw their parents and family members killed in front of their eyes and their mothers and sisters raped. Children were also shot in their hands and legs. Many are recovering from psychological trauma.
Chopra, who came to Bangladesh directly from London after attending the royal wedding of her American friend Meghan Markle on a four-day visit, visited camps in Cox’s Bazar bordering Myanmar and passed time with the desperate children at safe homes, makeshift schools and helped them draw pictures of sunshine and hope.