"Rohingya refugees took the lead in celebrating World Refugee Day – an internationally-recognized event commemorated around the world. In the Kutupalong Rohingya camps, 120 women and girls held a full slate of activities that ran throughout the day focusing on highlighting the unique culture of their homeland. The women were forced from Myanmar in mid-2017 and are housed in refugee camps just miles from the international border in Bangladesh. In the weeks preparing for World Refugee Day, the women said they wanted to gather together as they did in Myanmar and cook and eat foods they used to enjoy. “One of the things most missed by the women and girls is the simple act of having community meals together – food is a very important part of the Rohingya culture, but when the fighting started and the movement restrictions happened, they had to stop,” said Gender-Based Violence Coordinator Rumpa Dey. World Refugee Day offered an opportunity to plan a potluck-style meal where they sourced ingredients typical of their homeland and prepared dishes for an event at the IOM Women and Girls Safe Spaces. Finding ingredients was straight forward because Rohingya cuisine is similar to food in Bangladesh’s Chittagong region where the camps are located, said Dey. The food unique to this cross-border area relies heavily on ingredients such as salted, dry fish; steamed and pureed aubergine; and a popular dish named Morichvorta made from crushed chilis. Other Rohingya dishes at the event could be easily seen at Indian and Bangladeshi tables such as chicken curry and egg fried rice. Dey explained that the women and girls also served Biryani, “which is a Bangladeshi dish and isn’t Rohingya at all, but was given to them in the camps and they liked very much.” The celebrations were financed by the attendees’ own income earned by an arts and crafts fair held on 8 March. “A community meeting was held where they decided on their own how to spend the proceeds.” Dey highlighted that the effort is an act of empowerment on the part of the women: “It’s good to see women organizing and making decisions in this way.” The event’s success also highlights the importance of IOM’s Women and Girls Safe Spaces. “There are a lot of cultural and social pressures and security concerns that act to keep women in the house and prevent them from being active in their communities. The Women and Girls Safe Spaces helps create a female-only environment where women can get together for events, to socialise or to learn new skills,” Dey added..."