They don't know me but they care like my own children: Flood victim on rescuer youths

Mofizul Islam Bhuiyan, an elderly man from Mohishmara village in Cumilla's Burichang upazila, saw the floods of 1974, 1988 and many others that preceded and followed, but the scale of the flood of this year has been unmatched.

His house is around one kilometre from Gumti River. So, water reached his residence quite fast, and before realizing what to do or how high the water level would rise, it was chest-high in a very short span of time. 

They have no way but to take shelter in the local shelter centre.

"The rescuers then told us that the shelter centre itself was at stake due to a strong current. They requested us to leave that shelter centre and come here to the Comilla High School in the town," Mofizul said. 

His wife Anowara Begum said, "We didn't want to leave our houses initially. But when the water level suddenly increased to chest level, we got scared."

She added that the young rescuers went from home to home in their village and asked them – "Do you want to live or die? Come to the rescue centre if you want to live." 

"They don't know me but they care like they are my own children," Anowara Begum added.

Anowara and Mofizul couple were at the shelter centre with their entire extended family. 

Nahian Chowdhury, a young volunteer who just completed her HSC exam was nearby. 

She was helping the flood victims and gossiping with them. 

According to Nahian, she didn't intend to work as a volunteer. She came nearby for some work, and then she "automatically" engaged in helping the victims. 

"I don't know when I got into helping these people. I feel like they are my own family," she said. 

Amena Begum, an elderly woman has suffering from skin disease for long. She seemed to have found an in-house doctor at the flood centre. 

Jannatul, a student of MBBS at Cumilla Medical College was treating her diseased leg with care.  

"This is more like a helping hub than a shelter centre. As much as donations are coming here, a lot of medicines too are coming. Medicine for diarrhea to skin diseases, everything is being packaged and sorted here," Jannatul said. 

"Many diabetic patients are here and little children are here with cold and cough.  When we see some critical case we send them to medical college hospital," she added. 

Raisa Akter, a student of class 7 was at the shelter centre with her parents and grandparent Amena Begum. She was glued on her phone the entire time. 

After all, flood is boring for an early teenager. "I have no idea where my friends are," Raisa said. 

Her mother Rupa said they couldn't retrieve anything from their house. "Everything is underwater," Rupa said. 

"It feels so good seeing young children doing so much for us. They rescued us and now they and now treating and caring us so well. May Allah bless them," she added. 

Jahangir Alam from Mahismara village said that the water current was still strong in their village and many were still stuck in their houses and tinshed rooftops.  

"There are still many people stuck on their tin rooftops. They are not getting rescued because there are not enough boats. Many people we know in Jodupur village still fear for their lives stuck on tin rooftops," Jahangir added.