Jan 1st birthday for everyone

Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh in this file pic from Oct 2, 2017. As hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar, overwhelmed UN relief officials recorded many of their birthdays as Jan 1. A decade later, the date serves as a source of bittersweet jokes and a reminder of a lost identity. — Tomas Munita/The New York Times

WHEN he woke up in his bamboo shelter on New Year’s Day, hundreds of Facebook notifications were awaiting Mohammed Faruque on his phone.

It was his birthday. It was his wife’s birthday, too. And that of his five brothers and sisters, his parents and his best friend, Mohammad Ullah. And most fellow residents of Camp 7.