There was no feast, no new clothes for the children on the Eid day, Khadiza Khatun, a Rohingya woman living in Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia, lamented.
Terming the Rohingyas helpless people on a foreign land, she said, "We want to go back to Myanmar.”
"Neither the government agencies nor the NGOs came to provide us any special meal on this special day. However we must appreciate that the people in Bangladesh gave us shelter,” Khadiza added.
Still, Rohingya Muslims living in Kutupalong camp were seen celebrating Eid on Saturday. Some of them cooked food on their own. Some kids wore new clothes while others used old ones after washing them.
Khadiza Khatun, a member of a middle class family at Bali Bazaar in Rakhine, Myanmar, invited 200-300 neighbours on the Eid day last year.
Later the same year, she found herself at a refugee camp as more than one million Rohingyas fled Myanmar amid military atrocities.
Even in such a desperate situation, the Rohingya children offered their Eid prayers in the refugee camp with excitement.
Over four thousand Rohingya people have offered their Eid prayers at D-4 Morkod mosque in Kutupalong camp around 8:00am.
They sought divine blessing for their return home where they can resume a peaceful and healthy life.
Moulana Mohammad Ishaq, the Imam of the mosque, led the munajat when the Rohingya Muslims burst into tears.
Hundreds of Rohingyas then gathered in D-4 area and chanted slogans saying ‘We don’t want to stay as refugees’, ‘we want our resources and civil rights back’, ‘we want to go back to Myanmar.’
The Rohingyas offered their Eid prayers in more than 1,000 mosques in Ukhia, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Md Nikaruzzaman said.
Some of them still looked happy as they joined the celebrations. There was no unpleasant incidents reported anywhere.
The Rohingya children were seen having fun playing with one another. Adults in the D-4 and D-5 camps arranged Nagordola to entertain the kids.
Mamtaz Begum was a housewife in Maungdoor Nakfura area of Myanmar. She made some semai for her children.
“We cannot afford much. Last year I made bread and beef, which my children loved very much,” Mamtaz recalled.
About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since August 2017 after the authorities launched a crackdown on them. With their arrival in Bangaldesh, their number crossed one million by this time as some were already staying in Cox's Bazar.
UN investigators who interviewed hundreds of escapees documented reports of mass killings, widespread rapes and horrifying accounts of babies being thrown into burning houses at the time.