<i>Life stranded in 80 sq ft room for long 36 years</i>

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

Mohammad Raju first arrived at the Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur 36 years ago when his family took shelter in the camp along with many other Bihari families after the liberation war ended.
In the beginning there were only tents. With the arrival of new faces in the families, the camp took a permanent shape with brick walled, tin-shed quarters.
"I was only ten years old when we came here in December 1971. A single-room house was enough for our four-member family at that time," Raju recalled. "My family gradually grew bigger. Now we are 10 members in the family.”
Raju lived in the same room in E block of the Geneva Camp since he moved in. Every time a new member arrived, his household arrangement changed. They tried to utilise every inch possible. Gradually the room became crammed, damp and dirty.
Today the 80 sq feet room serves every purpose. The family members sleep in the bed hoisted up at least 4 feet to make room for several goats to stay under the bed at night. Some families use this space to store necessary goods.
This correspondent found in some rooms another layer of bed above, almost touching the ceiling. Without a ladder it is not possible to get up there. Cooking, dining and other household chores take place in the same room.
In another block of the camp, Meherun's day starts waiting in a long queue in front of the common toilets every morning. There are 250 toilets in the camp for about 22,000 people living in around 3,000 households. Half of the toilets are now unusable.
"Every morning I have to wait in a line of about 100 men and women to go to toilet," Meherun said. "Those who go to work early face hard times in the morning."
Privacy is a luxury in the camp, said Meherun. “Because of space constraints men and women are forced to take bath at the same place. There are around 50 bathing space in the camp majority of them does not have roof or wall.”
Collecting water is another ordeal, said another resident named Baby. “Most of the time foul water comes out of the line. To collect the dirty water we have to stand in queue.”
“The water line in my block is out of order. I go to another block to collect water,” she added. There are 25 water taps in the camp, creating a competition among the dwellers. Scuffles involving the water tap are very frequent in the camp.
During Ramadan the ordeal has a different twist. Residents need to speed up their Seheri because of limited number of water tap and toilets.
Last renovation in the camp area took place in 1986 after a fire devastated the place. Today the entire premise is filled with garbage here and there. Without proper sewer system dirty water from the toilet go straight to the walkway inside the camp. During the rainy season it reaches in the living quarters.
Food poisoning and waterborne diseases are very common in the camp. For the entire population there is just one clinic with no doctor posted, said the residents.
Literacy rate is very low among the Biharis. Today there are only 6 primary schools for them in Bangladesh. One of them is for Geneva Camp dwellers run by Plan Bangladesh, an NGO. Around 100 children go there.
The community produced only one master's degree holder in 36 years.
The living condition of Biharis in other places is worse than that in Geneva Camp. With rubbish piled up in every alley, with broken toilets, dirty water, messy pathway and damp living quarters, Geneva Camp is considered the finest among the 116 camps.