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A UWC education challenges us to engage in open and respectful dialogue, whist valuing freedom of expression. It simultaneously encourages us to ask the difficult questions.
Aayesha, UWCSEA 2015 alumna and current co-head teacher of the Rohingya Learning Centre, located in Johor Bahru shared these questions with her students. These questions revolved around the UN Report of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar, building upon UWC Day discussions, awareness raising about the UWC Refugee Initiative, and whether our student groups and sports teams should travel to Myanmar for MUN or SEASAC. Aayesha’s students suggested, “Teacher, why don’t they come see us instead?”
The Rohingya Learning Centre provides education for refugees. One hundred and sixty thousand refugees currently reside in Malaysia; of this, “...141,780 are from Myanmar, comprising some 88,880 Rohingyas” (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). With this as the backdrop, in the early hours of January 6, a group of UWCSEA students, staff, and alumna departed Singapore for the Rohingya Learning Centre.
The theme of our day was ‘diversity.’ We worked in groups with students aged seven to eighteen from the Learning Centre. Discussions flowed easily, beginning with the multifaceted nature of diversity and what it encompasses. In response to statements we placed ourselves along a continuum, and as we explained our personal placements we built mutual trust. The prompts were not always lofty or deep; statements such as “Bollywood is better than K-pop” struck a chord. The statements then moved towards exploring more complex issues. An exchange of perspectives about our group's diversity of gender, race, culture and religion was encouraged through further prompts: “Where I was born is the country I am from,” “I have the same culture as my parents,” and “Religion is important to my community.”
After their school day, the older Rohingya students shared their opinions and experiences about the ongoing humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses. They were interested in hearing about the debates that had ensued at UWCSEA regarding travel to Myanmar.
Throughout the forum discussions, focus days, the 2017 and 2018 UWC Days, and debates on Dover Campus, the voices of the Rohingya people and those affected by the ongoing crisis have been eerily absent.
In December, an open forum was held where High School students had the opportunity to ask senior administrative leaders questions about UWCSEA’s position on non-essential travel to Myanmar. During this forum Aayesha shared her students’ comments with the crowd. Aayesha recounted: “...when I raised this with them [the Rohingya students], their first reaction was just to start blurting out these stories, things that they’ve seen, things that one of my boys told me he could still see in his eyes right in front of him - about people and places being burned down.”. She told the forum that her students suggested that “...these are all the things that the people at your school need to know”. Aayesha continued: “But then of course I told them, that they [UWC students] do know. They have seen the news, they have heard the stories, the information is all out there. They’re educated on this. And then my class was silent.”
In January, UWCSEA took the decision that our softball teams would not travel to Myanmar in March. Aayesha shared that students at the Learning Centre were relieved when they heard about the decision. One of the students whom we had an opportunity to talk to during our visit spoke directly about the morality of travelling to Myanmar. The student appreciates the beauty and the appeal of travel to Myanmar, saying people “...have the right” to do so, but also warns that these travellers should be aware of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and make a conscious decision. He strongly believes that awareness is what drives change, adding “Not travelling to Myanmar is an act of support for the Rohingya.”
We would like to thank the students and teachers at the Rohingya Learning Centre for the opportunity for members of the UWCSEA community to come and participate in activities. It has never been more important to find opportunities to empathise and engage in acts of compassion. We would like to thank Aayesha in particular for her mentorship, kindness and invitation to the school.
Sources
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (n.d.). Figures at a Glance in Malaysia. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html