Rohingya children at Cox's Bazar learn to be children again

The learning centres set up by Unicef in the refugee camps at Cox's Bazar provide a sense of normalcy for the children who have witnessed horrific violence. Photos: AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

It is two in the afternoon and the sun is beating down hard on a group of Rohingya boys playing soccer in the dirt yard of the Child Friendly Space (CFS) at the Balukhali Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Beside the yard, in a classroom-like structure made from bamboo and tarp, younger children sit on woven straw mats, chattering and laughing as they play carom, stack building blocks, draw, colour or sing popular English nursery rhymes under the supervision of social workers.