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Ep 9 | Sakena’s Story Part 1 – Rohingya: The Days of Blue Skies
Before displacement. Before the border crossings. Before the word “refugee.”There was a girl named Sakena, in a small village called Gudusara in Arakan State, Myanmar — where blue skies meant freedom and family filled every room.
In this first part of her oral history, Sakena, a Rohingya mother and widow now living in Cox’s Bazar, takes us back to the world she knew before exile — the scent of turmeric in her mother’s kitchen, her father’s laughter, the games she played in the fields, and the faith that shaped her heart.
As one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, the Rohingya have faced decades of exclusion and statelessness under Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law. Yet through Sakena’s voice, we hear the quiet strength of a woman remembering what it meant to belong — before loss, before flight, before the world turned away.
Her story reminds us that displacement doesn’t begin at the border. It begins with a home that once was whole.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
* Life in Gudusara village — home, family, and faith
* Sakena’s memories of school and her dream of becoming a teacher
* The role of women’s work and early marriage in her community
* How her family’s love shaped the woman and mother she would become
Why This Story Matters
Stories like Sakena’s challenge the way we think about refugee lives. They are not only about loss — they are about memory, identity, and the early worlds that built these women long before war took them apart.
In The Refugee Archive, we listen closely to female heads of households — women like Sakena — whose voices carry the continuity of families, faith, and survival across borders.
Listen to Part 1: “The Days of Blue Skies.”And stay with us for the next chapter — where Sakena recounts the night her family fled Northern Rakhine, and how she carried her four children toward a new, uncertain home in Cox’s Bazar.
The Archive Speaks feature lived memories and stories of resilience and survival from places of conflict like Gaza, told by refugee women and female head of households, and preserved by The Refugee Archive.
Get full access to The Refugee Archive: Global Center for Displaced FHH at therefugeearchive.substack.com/subscribe
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By The Refugee Archive TeamBefore displacement. Before the border crossings. Before the word “refugee.”There was a girl named Sakena, in a small village called Gudusara in Arakan State, Myanmar — where blue skies meant freedom and family filled every room.
In this first part of her oral history, Sakena, a Rohingya mother and widow now living in Cox’s Bazar, takes us back to the world she knew before exile — the scent of turmeric in her mother’s kitchen, her father’s laughter, the games she played in the fields, and the faith that shaped her heart.
As one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, the Rohingya have faced decades of exclusion and statelessness under Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law. Yet through Sakena’s voice, we hear the quiet strength of a woman remembering what it meant to belong — before loss, before flight, before the world turned away.
Her story reminds us that displacement doesn’t begin at the border. It begins with a home that once was whole.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
* Life in Gudusara village — home, family, and faith
* Sakena’s memories of school and her dream of becoming a teacher
* The role of women’s work and early marriage in her community
* How her family’s love shaped the woman and mother she would become
Why This Story Matters
Stories like Sakena’s challenge the way we think about refugee lives. They are not only about loss — they are about memory, identity, and the early worlds that built these women long before war took them apart.
In The Refugee Archive, we listen closely to female heads of households — women like Sakena — whose voices carry the continuity of families, faith, and survival across borders.
Listen to Part 1: “The Days of Blue Skies.”And stay with us for the next chapter — where Sakena recounts the night her family fled Northern Rakhine, and how she carried her four children toward a new, uncertain home in Cox’s Bazar.
The Archive Speaks feature lived memories and stories of resilience and survival from places of conflict like Gaza, told by refugee women and female head of households, and preserved by The Refugee Archive.
Get full access to The Refugee Archive: Global Center for Displaced FHH at therefugeearchive.substack.com/subscribe