Teknaf, Bangladesh: Refugees from Leda (Tal) unofficial refugee camp have been facing an acute water crisis since February 28. Solidarity, an NGO from the United Kingdom, has not been supplying water to the camp since two days ago, said a refugee leader from the camp.

There are two NGOs, namely Muslim Aid (UK) and Solidarity (UK), that have been working in the area from a long time. Muslim Aid works with management and medical treatment in the camp, while Solidarity is working with hygiene issues, such as latrines, drainage systems, and supplying water to the camp.

The Muslim Aid NGO has recruited workers from out of the Cox’s Bazaar district. As a result, local people create problems with the NGO.

However, Solidarity has recruited workers from among the local people to supply water and improve hygienic systems in the camp. Recently, the NGO began using machines to clean the hygienic systems, and the number of local workers has been reduced. Therefore, a situation of joblessness for the local people has resulted, said another refugee from the camp.

For this reason, the NGO has been unable to supply water to the refugees of Leda camp for the past two days. There are over 10,000 refugees living without any support or rations from any quarter.

As a result, the refugees of Leda are facing an acute water crisis. The refugees are not able to cook their food, take baths, wash their clothes, or have enough water for drinking. The refugees are not even able to wash themselves after defecating, said an elderly refugee from the camp.

If the refugees go to the local villages, or nearby streams in the forest, to get water, the local villagers give them trouble as the refugees are not allowed to take water from those places, said a female refugee from the camp.

The refugees have asked the concerned authorities to supply water to the camp as soon as possible.

A mother of four children from the camp said most children are facing various skin diseases because of the short supply of water and the overall unhygienic situation.

A mother of a small child said, “My child is crying because of high temperatures as the weather becomes hotter. I am not able to give a bath to my baby.”