Beyond Survival: A Safe Space for Rohingya Women and Girls

 Architect: Rizvi Hassan and Team.

Year: 2019.

Location: Rohingya Refugee Camp ( 25) , Alikhali, Teknaf.

Client: FDMN Women & Girls (supported by UNICEF & BRAC).

The harrowing experience of conflict, displacement and associated stresses have disproportionately affected the Rohingya women and girls, who need urgent supports. Safe Space for Women and Girls, serving as a platform, allows Rohingya women and girls to advocate for basic services. The facility also plays a key role in providing women’s access to community support networks while strengthening social relationship.

| Notes from the Architect |

How fast a landscape changes is quite astonishing to witness and how fast people cope up is more of a surprise. The influx happened in August 25 of 2017 and since then Rohingya refugees, local hosting communities as well as the reserved forests of Teknaf area have gone through unimaginable changes.

Rohingya refugees have been fighting with vulnerabilities in terms of basic shelter, health, nutrition and emotional state for a while now. Since the influx, Rohingya refugees took shelter on 4300 acres of hills and forests in Ukhiya & Teknaf and the region has been more caring of a host than any other places in the world. One of the largest and most dense camps have become temporary home of almost a million refugees. That includes hundreds and thousands of young minds who are going through the most vital changes in terms of age and current state. The days they pass in the camps will shape them, who they will be in near future.

UN agencies, Bangladesh Government and other organizations are supporting them in this difficult time so that in future they become less of a burden rather healthier minds that are ready to contribute. Thus safer spaces for young boys, girls and women play crucial roles in the camp environment.

For adolescent girls and women from the surrounding camp area, the centre offers a place to have a good bath a day, a place to complain about abuse and violence and a place where they can learn to create and share, thus a safe home. Managing social conflict between the refugees and host communities is also an issue in this context; and in our belief being a good host and sharing ethical ideologies will act as small efforts to prevent conflicts.

Socially engaging design and building process may benefit the participants in several ways. In our case, the outcome we noticed was that the male participants from the camp were eager to get their family members (wife, daughter, mother, sister) involved with the centre activities whereas there have been reports about restrictions and unwillingness in other centres. The centre becomes more vibrant and personalized by the colorful patterns painted by the community.

An opportunity to spend the day with the fellow women in the camp can bring psychological change and even their attitude towards their family members. “Quarrel among women and neighborhoods are a common scenario in the camps. I believe if women get the opportunity to gather in a centre like this, they will learn to keep peace wherever they go or live’’ -says Kala Hossain, one of the masons as he worked with us during construction.

Materials used in Safe Space for Women and Girls are very basic and available nearby. Untreated bamboo (as built on emergency basis and will decay in few years and need to be replaced with treated bamboo) as structure, straw/hay with tarpaulin as roofing material (requires change in 1 year interval and can be replaced with alternative durable materials for longer use). The site falls within a cyclone prone area and so we had to avoid materials that can be hazardous during cyclone.

It is also very near to Asian elephant habitat and one can often see elephants getting down from the hills at the backgrounds. The material and exterior scheme avoids disturbance for elephants. In most of the structures in the camp areas, blue and pink colours are used as a common scheme which is conflicting to human-elephant co-existence. We had to negotiate and avoid these colours in exterior surfaces. We rather keep the natural textures to merge the structure with the surrounding landscape. However, red and yellow colors don’t distract elephants either, so were used for interior court and several openings.

Power of form is universal and timeless. A very basic introvert court ensures privacy and freedom for women of comparatively a conservative society. The interior court connects the surrounding rooms into one space. The activity space and rooms are comparatively smaller than other centres but openings towards the courtyard give the essence of a larger space.

The exterior of the structure is ragged and tries to blend within the context. The texture, colour and setting are inspired by often seen ‘Paner Boroj’ (Betel leaf shades) within rice fields. On the other hand, the interior has the colours vibrant enough to make a cheerful essence. The pocket spaces within the form create opportunities to have the freedom and choice of spaces for the beneficiaries.

Aids from outside won’t continue for long. These displaced people even know that they won’t be here for long either. All they will be left with is themselves and each other’s help. And a centre like this can be instrumental in building tolerance and to become co-operative and empathetic, so that in the worst surviving days, they could resist the brutality of the world a bit more.

We have heard stories, how women of the community went through brutality and sacrifices to save their family. And then it is relieving to see their men working with love to make safer spaces for them.
-Rizvi Hassan
Sector Specialist (Architect)
BRAC Humanitarian Crisis Management Programme

Team:
Abdur Rahman, Kala Hossain, Anwar & others (refugee masons)
Abdullah Al Mamun
Biplob Hossain (Engineer)
Saad Ben Mostafa
Rizvi Hassan