In October 2016, a Rohingya group was accused of killing nine policemen in Myanmar. Since then, the Muslim minority has been under attack in the mostly Buddhist country again. More than 70,000 Rohingyas have fled across the border to Bangladesh. One of the camps they live in is Kutupalong, in the southern Cox's Bazar district.

Rohingyas might be safe from Myanmar's military here, but life in the Kutupalong camp is anything but easy. There is no real infrastructure and only makeshift housing set up by the refugees themselves. They fled Myanmar because the military torched their homes and raped and killed hundreds of people, according to human rights organizations.

There's no running water in most parts of the camp and not much to do for the thousands of refugee children. This girl is picking up mud from one of the camp's lakes.

Mud and other basic materials are used by to build houses in the camp so residents at least have roofs over their heads.

In Myanmar, Rohingyas have been discriminated against since before the country's independence from Britain in 1948. The group continues to be denied citizenship and voting rights.

Rohingya also experience discrimination in Bangladesh, where the government has turned away boats with hundreds of refugees because it claims that the camps are already overcrowded. Now, Bangladesh's government is planning to relocate Rohingyas to a remote island that is mostly flooded during monsoon season.

The island of Thengar Char, where Bangladesh's government wants to settle Rohingyas, is miles away from the mainland, can only be reached by boat and has been raided by pirates before. An NGO coordinator helping Rohingyas once told DW that there would be few opportunities to make a living on Thengar Char.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done on Thengar Char. "'The relocation will take place only after the development activities are completed,'' he has said. But the government hasn't done much to improve the Kutupalong camp either, and residents have to take care of everything themselves.

The lack of a safe homeland leaves Rohingyas with an uncertain future as Myanmar works to erase their past. The Culture and Religious Affairs Ministry plans to release a history textbook with no mention whatsoever of the Muslim minority. "The real truth is that the word 'Rohingya' was never used or existed as an ethnicity or race in Myanmar's history," the ministry claimed in December 2016.

Rohingya began fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh decades ago, resulting in the Kutupalong refugee camp near the southeastern city, Cox’s Bazar. But the camp population has increased dramatically since August 2017 and additional camps have been set up. Almost a million people now live in Kutupalong – a city almost the size of Cologne, but lacking the infrastructure.

International flags were flying at the entrance to the Kutupalong refugee camp during the World Cup. Among the many Brazilian and Argentinian flags were also occasional German ones. Soccer fever was alive in other parts of the camp and in surrounding villages as well. The young community journalists were there to cover it, adding a touch of joy even in a time of crisis.

Coping with extreme weather conditions is one of the hardest challenges. Cyclones threaten the camp in the spring, torrential rains take over during the monsoon season. Community reporters of the “Palonger Hotha” program offer listeners vital information for survival. This includes where to find bamboo sticks to reinforce shelters, and areas that need to be evacuated due to potential mudslides.

Another goal of the radio program is to strengthen the way people see themselves, by taking their daily lives seriously. The reporter team, made up of young Rohingyas and local Bangladeshis, asks families, for example, how their lives are affected when they have to huddle together for hours, due to the weather conditions.

The reporters look for constructive ideas that can inspire the listeners. One reporter, Sajeda, reported on “hanging vegetable gardens”, where beans are planted as a way to increase the food supply despite limited space. The reporters also look at household remedies for curing illnesses that, due to hygiene issues, spread during the rainy season.

How can children learn to remember their way home? What can they do to not get lost in the refugee camp? And what are the challenges facing the camp’s Learning Centers? Education for the refugee children is of special concern to the reporter, Iqbal. There are so far no real schools for the children.

The refugee camp lies along the migration route for the Asian elephants. Several camp residents, however, were killed in early 2018 when they tried to chase the elephants away. In response, the United Nations held a seminar showing how people should act when elephants approach. “Palonger Hotha” reporters covered this for their program.

Unlike the new refugees, locals know from experience how to react if approached by an elephant: stay calm, don’t move, and the elephant will walk away on its own. DW Akademie trainer Andrea Marshall and translator Romana Akther Shanta learned this in July, on their way to the production of the 12th radio show.

Some local Bangladeshis have found work connected to the refugee camp, but also complain that food prices have risen in the region since the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya. Green hills have since been logged because the refugees need space and firewood. This is why it is so important that the community radio program also covers the views of locals.

Working together with local trainer Mainul Khan, the “Palonger Hotha” team learns how to deal carefully with potentially sensitive topics. The program does not cover politics. On the other hand, the UNHCR’s “Smart Card”, that is supposed to facilitate the (voluntary) return to Myanmar but which many Rohingya find suspicious, is well reported on.

Traumatic experiences also mark the first anniversary of the mass exodus that began August 25. But at the same time, many people say they are starting to face their trauma – slowly, step by step.