A rough road to refuge

It was around noon on Wednesday.

Fleeing violence at their home in Rakhine State, a group of Rohingyas was slipping through the Rezu Aamtali border in Bandarban's Naikhyangchhari with whatever they could carry, some even with livestock.

All of a sudden, it started to rain and the refugees, except for one man, hurried along the hilly road. He was clearly struggling to keep pace with the others.

As that man crossed the border and reached the Ghumdhum point, these correspondents found that he was actually carrying his elderly mother on his back.

Barefooted, the son and the mother looked completely exhausted and scared. Their clothes were crumpled, untidy and slashed with mud.

On being offered some biscuits, the man, Kader Hossain, bent and slowly made his mother, aged around 90, get down from his back.

"This is the first thing we are eating in days. I have been walking like this for a long time as my mother is too weak to walk," said the 30-year-old who brought with himself a tale of horror.

"We have come here looking for shelter as horrible things were happening in Rakhine."

Myanmar army attacked his village, Lemsipara, in Fakirabazar of Maungdaw on Friday night. The troops raided and set ablaze many houses in that village, forcing the locals to flee.

Around 9:00pm, all his family members, including his mother, wife, children, two brothers and a sister, left their home empty handed and took shelter at a nearby hill. After waiting there the entire night, the Rohingya family along with some 1,000 other Rohingyas started their journey towards Bangladesh, said Kader.

The refugees were divided into five groups so that they could slip through the border easily. On the way, Kader's mother, Shahara Khatun, somehow got lost.

"I lost my mother and I was looking for her before crossing the border. On Monday, somebody told me a very old lady was lying down in a forest behind us," said Kader.

Kader sent his wife and children along with his siblings to the Kutupalong Camp in Cox's Bazar, and then went back to look for his mother.

Walking for hours, he finally found Shahara lying beside Patahola Chhara near Walden Hills, Kader said.

"She hardly had any strength to stand up. I gave her some water and took her on my back and started walking," he said, adding the journey was rough as the hilly road was difficult to cross.

Kader said they crossed the border without much trouble, and that they were happy to reach Bangladesh.

"However, we are really worried about our future. I don't know what lies ahead," he said before starting for the Kutupalong camp.