A co-designed story-panel for Rohingya patients

BANGLADESH

In June 2023, MSF and a social designer worked in collaboration with members of the Rohingya community in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps, including weavers, a storyteller and young artists, to create a story-panel for young Rohingya patients in MSF’s care.

During a workshop, the young Rohingya artists listened to several kyssa (traditional Rohingya folktales) told by the storyteller, and selected one that would be illustrated by the story-panel.

The weavers, social designer and MSF staff then brought the panel to life, collaborating to create a new technique of bamboo weaving which created frames, which were then filled with paper panels painted in watercolours by the young artists.

At the start of August—in the lead up to the date marking six years since the mass exodus of Rohingya people from Myanmar—a group of young patients, their families and MSF staff gathered around the story panel for the first kyssa storytelling session in the MSF Kutupalong hospital.

Through the process of the panel’s making, and future storytelling sessions, MSF and the community intend to provide ongoing opportunities to practice and value Rohingya culture, bear witness to the Rohingya experience, and provide platforms for mental health discussions in the hospital.

See the story of the making of the panel here