imaginative play can help to reduce stress and optimize brain development. It can provide healing opportunities for children’s emotional trauma and offer hope to break the cycle of physical and emotional violence.” For some, play can feel like a luxury. Kamal*, 12, lost his parents during the violence in Myanmar. With nothing to their name, he and three elder sisters led to Bangladesh in November. They had to borrow 80,000 MMK (USD 60) from a neighbour to pay for a boat to cross the Naf River. In Bangladesh, they were found by a long-staying Rohingya refugee, Noor Kaida, who decided to host them despite having four children of her own. “I came across these children crying at a graveyard nearby,” said Noor Kaida, 27, who herself fled Myanmar as a baby with her parents. “I took them in because they have nothing, no one. They are so vulnerable and we have a moral responsibility for them.” As the only boy, Kamal volunteered to work at a tea shop in town. He barely comes back to their shelter anymore. His eldest sister Talifa*, 18, worries incessantly: “They are still so young. How we will ind food and clothing, how we will survive? We are also in debt to our neighbour for the boat fees. He keeps asking and I promised to beg or do whatever I can to repay him.” Their host says she will shelter them for as long as she can – “until they find their own shelter or get married.” Good intentions aside, the presence of so many unaccompanied minors raises serious protection concerns around the risk of child labour, early marriage, traicking and sexual exploitation. UNHCR has mobilized community support groups involving women and youth in the refugee camps to reach out to these vulnerable children. The agency is also working with partners to trace family members where possible, and to assess the best interests of those who have no surviving family. Options could range from tracing and reunification with close relatives, to appointing guardians or foster families who can ofer care and guidance. “I think of my parents often,” said Talifa. “We bear the pain inside but we have to deal with it.” *Names changed for protection reasons Asif, 8, and Suleman, 12, say their parents were killed in the violence near Maungdaw, Myanmar. © UNHCR/Vivian Tan 6