Bangladesh opens doors – and hearts – to fleeing Rohingya

When hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees began fleeing from Myanmar into Bangladesh six weeks ago, Haroon Roshid and his wife, Khaleda Begum, gave them what little they could: water, rice, plastic tarpaulins.

Their supplies quickly ran out. Then, last week, a local Islamic charity asked to use their house as a makeshift hospital. They didn’t hesitate to say yes. Their living room – its walls painted bright pink – became a delivery room, their muddy front yard a pharmacy. 

A team of volunteer doctors soon arrived and helped deliver five babies in three days. Outside, thousands of sick and injured refugees received medicine. 

“They are human beings just as we are,” Mr. Roshid says, standing next to his wife in their bedroom. She nods in agreement. “Our house is open to them for as long as they need,” he continues. “If the doctors stay forever, that is no problem for us.”

Behind the couple’s generosity lies Roshid’s own experience. He has been a Rohingya refugee himself since 2000, when he fled violence in neighboring Myanmar for