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Rohingya refugees in Malaysia - A grandfather stands in his doorway

Abdul, 58, tells the story of how his family were forced at gunpoint by an angry mob of Rakhine people to get on a rickety boat to leave Myanmar. “If you come back we will shoot you”, he remembers them saying.

 

In Myanmar he owned four successful clothing shops, but his family have struggled to keep afloat in Malaysia, unable to save enough money to start a businesses. An old man, he cannot support his family: “It is difficult to survive in Malaysia. I am now old and I cannot work here”.

 

His sons work in construction and other hard labour jobs for low wages. Abdul describes how upsetting it is to see them return home from work, worn and weary from working in such difficult and dangerous environments.

 

Photo © The Spacemen

Full photo story on New Internationalist

More info about the Humanitarian Policy Group: www.odi.org/hpg

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Uploaded on June 19, 2015
Taken on June 4, 2015