Hungry faces among the floods

Champa is a shy little girl from Chatolpur in Companiganj, Sylhet.

Ask her if she had anything to eat this morning, Champa wouldn't say a word. Her two other little siblings would also stare at you with wide-eyes. Her father, atop a little dinghy, would do the same but with much less inquisitiveness.

None of them would say a word. But the answer to the question would be etched across their face.

They ate nothing last night.

On Tuesday morning, the father, Pakinda Biswas, had brought them to the Sylhet-Companiganj highway in hopes of finding something to eat.

Where is your wife?

"I left her at my neighbour's house and brought the kids here hoping to find something for them," he said in a weakened voice.

It was evident this man hadn't eaten in a while.

Soon Pakinda started to roam the streets crowded with dozens of other people left homeless.

Half an hour later, Pakinda and his kids were spotted on their dinghy again, this time with a plate of plain rice.

Champa and her siblings shared the rice among themselves. It was their first food in a long time.

After eating rice, Champa warmed up a little to company. The nourishment had brought life back to the kids.

Champa is a class three student. Her father is a day labourer and her mother a housewife. The family lives in a village in Chatolpur.

"Our home has washed away in the flood. We live in this dinghy now. This is all we have," Champa said.

How is your mother?

"My mother always cries because we have no food," she replied. "We came here to get some food for her."

Two hours later, the kids were still on the dinghy waiting for their father.

"Abbu is still looking for food," Champa said.

The smiles that the plate of rice brought to these kids were already gone. The tiniest one was crying.

A truck with relief packages was standing nearby. Champa said her father was trying to get relief from the truck.

But they were anxious, wondering if Pakinda could get anything at all.

Hundreds of people lined up before the relief truck. It was a chaotic crowd of hungry people screaming for food.

Pakinda could not be seen anywhere in the crowd.

His kids waited with anticipation. Their wait would have to be longer.

'The flood will go. But how will my children survive?'

As Shamshuddin told the story of the misery the flood brought and how his family had to stay on their rooftop with little to no food, Khalilur Rahman was impatiently waiting for his turn.

He, too, had much to say.

"Come here," Khalilur said, beckoning towards the end of the road. "My home was there between those trees. Can you see it? It is not there anymore. My home has been swept away by the water."

Khalilur, who is in his late 50s, escaped with his life and the lives of his family members on Friday evening.

"I have seen floods before. But I have never seen a flood like this before. The water came very fast. When the water rushed in, initially I thought it was like other regular floods. But before we even thought of leaving home, my house was in chest-deep water," he said.

That afternoon after the Friday prayers, came the torrential rain, accompanied by high winds and thunderstorms.

The villagers in Borni of Companiganj – before realising what to do – were under the vicious wrath of nature. Lightning, flash floods, and high wind disoriented them at their core.

"We barely survived leaving everything behind coming to the highway," Khalilur said.

And soon, the highway also went underwater forcing Khalilur, his family and hundreds of others to take refuge in the Bangabandhu High Tech Park beside the Sylhet-Companiganj road.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, dozens of men and women like Khalilur and Shamsuddin were aimlessly walking near the shelter.

Among them was Zakir Hossain, a young man who had lost his home in the Borni village to floods.

"My mother and siblings barely saved their lives and we took shelter here. We have nothing – no food, no money. I have been taking eye treatment and most of the money we had has been spent already. I have more treatment to take. But now I don't even have a home to take shelter in," Zakir broke down in despair.

Tajuddin Ahmed, another homeless man, was listening to Zakir.

"I have a fever; my family members are also ill. People you see here, most of us have lost our houses and livelihood. I do not know what is waiting for us," Tajuddin said.

"People will not keep feeding us forever. What will happen to us tomorrow?" he added.

Chandra Banu, a middle-aged woman with kids, was among the crowd.

A single mother, she made a living begging. She tends to her children while asking for food from people.

"My house has been washed away," Chandra said, breaking down in tears. "I have nowhere to live now. Who will build me my home? Everyone lost their home and everything. Who would I even ask for food?" Chandra said as she struggled to articulate sentences.

"The flood will go. But how will my kids survive?"