The first time I was approached to work on the Rohingya community was when a non-governmental organization approached me knowing my humanitarian work as an “artivist”(artist + activist). Indeed, as a UNESCO Artist for Peace, I am using performing art to help survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to better express themselves. This NGO saw my work in Congo with women victims of excision and decided to have me work in Bangladesh for the Rohingya women population especially.

This NGO is delivering access to information, education, and cultural resources on serving communities subject to systemic discrimination. My goal was to create pedagogical content to help trainers on site to deliver programs to the women population to get a better sense of autonomy and self-confidence thanks to role games. Going back and forth with those trainers allowed me to also have direct access to the Rohingya women population while some gave feedback on some parts of the training and some very interesting insights.

READ: Bangladesh pushes for early repatriation of Rohingyas

I immediately realized the willingness of those women to become more autonomous and to better understand how their own value could make a difference in order for their children could be better treated. This sense of “family first” was very present and being a mother myself I felt very close to M. in particular who was explaining that she would have extreme difficulties not only because of those horrific conditions they are living in but also due to the lack of consideration women have in the clan.

Sexual harassment and sexual crimes are getting more and more often and are carried out by men who usually are not busy working but on the contrary are getting more and more angry at the situation….and usually get revenge on women. Whereas Rohingya women are all about preserving the interest of their family, men are fighting creating clans and beating their wives when they return at the end of the day. “We are scare”, T. says. But we are trying to create alliances in order not to feel alone and being able to hide in one or another’s home if things are getting more difficult”.

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The program I created gave those women a better sense of a diagnosis in order to anticipate signals of violence in advance and immediately take actions. Using methods from communication skills, emotional intelligence, obstructive behaviors strategies, I designed role games to "rehearse real life" and being able to react quicker.

From scare to care was really their motto as they went through the training program that was also including some meditation techniques inspired by the Heartfulness method. Finding a safe space to take a moment to breathe, to visualize positive outcomes would be “extremely helpful” for them to get stronger.

Another part of the training was linked to the notion of worth for profitability. Making those women realize that they can be at the root of value creation thanks to what they know already was a real positive experience. For this, I suggest working with the technique of the sociogram created by Michel Crozier. Each woman had to clearly state the environment matrix in which she lived and try to understand who could be “helpers”, “mentors” and even “partners” after defining in which area she could create profits. Some of them came with ideas like cooking, sewing or even doing domestic tasks. Others dared to talk about speaking up and becoming representatives of the Rohingya's cause from an international point of view.

What is striking in this matter is how Rohingya women are close to us, occidental women with our doubts, our pride and our willingness to give to our family and to our society. Whether I am with this feminine population or with a corporate feminine population, I am using the same exercises essentially on women who push the notion of power back from what they think should not be their own shoulder. But now, it is time to stop being afraid and accept to become our own knight. Our family needs it, our society needs it, our worlds too…

Guila Clara Kessous, PhD (Harvard University) is a UNESCO Artist for Peace