Reunite a Family Torn Apart By War

I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts chronicles the journey of fourteen Rohingya youth who take to the stage in order to depict their families' harrowing experiences in Burma and beyond; before, during, and immediately after the escalation of military violence in their native Rakhine state; their unforgiving escape by foot and by boat to makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh; and their eventual resettlement in the unfamiliar Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

The documentary "I Am Rohingya" is coming to theatre in Ottawa (May 9), Toronto (May 11), and Waterloo (May 13). The team behind the film is partnering with local organizations in each city to host the screenings, such as Inter Pares in Ottawa, a non-governmental organization that has been working with human rights activists in Burma for decades.

"I Am Rohingya" chronicles the making of the play "I Am Rohingya" by a group of Rohingya refugee youth living in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

Refugee Rights Day is a day to create awareness in the public consciousness about the rights and protection of refugees in Canada. Celebrated on April 4th, this day is significant particularly for refugee claimants, because it brings attention to the advances made in the protection of refugee rights in Canada as a result of the Supreme Court’s 1985 Singh Decision. In this decision, the Supreme Court found that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the fundamental rights of refugees. The Court decided that ‘everyone’ includes refugee claimants in the sentence: ‘Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.’

Sudanese Canadian Mohamed Salih was recently named Best Local Politician by The London Free Press's Best of London 2018 survey. He was elected to the city council of London, Ontario in 2014.

Muslim Link interviewed Mohamed about his experiences being a city councillor.

Somali Canadian Yasmine Mo is pursuing a Master’s in sociology at the Université de Montréal. Her thesis explores the social realities of Black Muslim women living in Montreal, the contributions of these women to Quebec society. The intersection of anti-Black racism, sexism and Islamophobia are at the centre of her studies.

Yasmine Mo spoke at a demonstration organized on November 18th by African Canadians in Montreal in the wake of recent reports that have hit mainstream media about the abuse, exploitaiton and in some cases enslavement experienced by African migrants in Libya, as situation that Amnesty International has described as "horrific".

Some Christians are in a state of denial, but the fact is, Jesus (pbuh)* was a refugee. He also wasn’t blonde and blue eyed, but that’s a battle for another time. 

According to the Biblical account, shortly after his birth, Mary and Joseph sought safety in Egypt. They’d been targeted by the insecure King Herod who had it out to kill anyone who could potentially thwart his power. They needed sanctuary. They were fleeing persecution. 

The Christian faith revolves around a young, Middle Eastern asylum-seeker who faced rejection and displacement from His earliest days. The face of Christianity’s central figure looks not unlike those that some in the faith would close their doors to today.

Enter Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ).

Ahmed Hashim Ullah is a Rohingya refugee living in Kitchener-Waterloo. He and a number of other Rohingya refugee youth worked with Yusuf Zine to develop the play I Am Rohingya. They are successfully crowdfunded to raise enough funds to develop the story behind the making of the play into a documentary.

What started out as a play made by Rohingya refugee youth in Ontario is on its way to becoming a full length documentary. Muslim Link spoke with actor Yusuf Zine is crowdfunding for a documentary to share the stories of the Rohingya refugees he has been working with in Kitchener-Waterloo over the last few years.

14 Rohingya refugee youth living in Ontario got together to save their people through theatre. Let's let the world hear their story. Support the making of the documentary on LaunchGood here.