The Migrant Wave

At dawn, Monday two weeks ago, Muhammad Syarif and more than 500 peoplemostly Rohingyas from Myanmar and some Bangladeshisreached the shore in Blang Geulumpang, Seunundon, North Aceh. They had been at sea for months. They were tired, hungry, and some of them were sick. "We didn't know where we landed," 16-year-old Muhammad Syarif, a Rohingya from Myanmar, told Tempo at the Fish Auction Center (TPI) in Kuala Cangkoi, North Aceh, last week.

The migrants jumped off the boat and ran to the villages of Matang Puntong and Sagoe in Seunundon. The villagers took them in, placing them temporarily at the meunasah (small mosque). The villagers who are mostly fishermen, gave them water, food and clothes. "People here are so nice," said Syarif who was a teacher at a refugee camp in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

May 19, 2015