Myriad camps have cropped up, all cramped between the Myanmar border and the Bay of Bengal, but some of those have already been in existence for the last 12 years, such as the one in Shamlapur.
Situated in the Cox Bazar district on the second largest beach in the world, Shamlapur is essentially a Rohingya fishing colony with houses covered in dried fish and nets, their lives revolving around the wooden boats they take to sea on their many expeditions.

These boats are owned mostly by Bangladeshis, with their crew composed of Rohingya refugees.

Abdul, Sahalam, Sahful, Akhim, all experienced Rohingyas fishermen are a crew formed under the orders of their Bangladeshi captain Hussein. They usually take to sea for periods of four to five days with three days of rest in the between trips.

The work is straining and dangerous. Most accidents happen in the process of pushing the boat from the beach to the water where boats sometimes lose equilibrium, crushing the fishermen around them.

Untangling nets, cooking meals, transporting petrol, cleaning boats, selling and drying fish, are the tasks that fill the crews’ long days. When night falls and the last call to prayer has been heard, the crews board their vessels and embark on journeys, sometimes for hundreds of kilometres at sea. The waves bouncing intensely off the U-shaped boats do not phase the crew; they are, by now, used to the choppiness of those waters.

A job in the hands of a Rohingya living in Bangladesh is rare, and they know only too well.

But for the newly-arrived, the hope of securing employment or sustaining a living seems almost non-existent in a country like Bangladesh that experiences widespread poverty and climate catastrophes each year.