Aisha stated that she would rather “die in the sea than in the camp”.
“I looked for a safe place for my children, hoping they could study and get an education,” he said.
Chris Leyva, director of the Rohingya rights organization Arakan Project, said food shortages were also worsening conditions in the camp and that entire families were now leaving, rather than just groups of youth, as had previously been seen.
“Now, the profile is different, we have multiple families now. There weren’t many people at first,” she said.
“Nowadays we see young children, many families making their own way. They just want to stay away from Bangladesh.”
Aisha and her children now live in a windowless room in a shelter in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe with more than a hundred other women and minors, sleeping on mats on the floor without fans in the tropical heat.
Ayesha said it was still much better than living in fear in the Bangladesh camp.
Ridoi also hoped that his decision to bring his family to Indonesia would bring a better life for his sons.
“I am not qualified to become a doctor or an engineer, but I am trying my best to make them so,” he said.
“My children are everything to me.”