Refugee Rohingya children need your help
Unicef calls on Baptists across the UK to offer support to its emergency appeal for refugee Rohingya children
Refugee Rohingya children need your help – that’s the message from Unicef to Baptists this Easter.
Unicef, the world’s leading organisation working for children in danger, is appealing to faith groups this Easter to back its Rohingya appeal.
A spokesperson told The Baptist Times, ‘Unicef is calling on Baptists in communities across the UK to offer your support to our emergency appeal for refugee Rohingya children and families - with your help we can be there for even more of those living in lack, providing life-saving protection and care.’
Having been driven by persecution in Myanmar (Burma), more than 680,000 Rohingya people, over half of them children, have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017. This crisis has led to the emergence of the largest refugee camp in the world, near Cox’s Bazar.
Clearly traumatised by their experiences, many children – some as young as five – bring ‘harrowing testimony of atrocities they have faced,’ the spokesperson added. They report killings, torture and sexual violence, as well as the burning and destruction of their homes and villages.
Unicef is on the ground now, providing life-saving food for malnourished children, clean water, and vaccinations against cholera, measles and rubella. It is also providing refugees with Child Friendly Spaces and temporary schools – crucial safe havens for children to learn and play.
‘As we approach Easter – a sacred time of year when so many of us are able to celebrate our faith freely and worship without reproach – we’re reaching out to Christians sharing in celebration across the UK, to consider supporting our appeal,' the spokeperson continued.
'Although Unicef is a non-religious, apolitical organisation, faith-based organisations are important partners in our fundraising efforts and awareness raising within the community.'
Baptist Times, 28/03/2018