Ogilvy & BRAC Broadcast Rohingya's Stories in Space

One year on from the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, Ogilvy and NGO BRAC, supported by the Texel Foundation are giving a voice to child refugees with a campaign that's literally out of this world, by broadcasting their stories in space. 

The campaign, which aims to raise funds for the continuing humanitarian crisis, includes a three-minute film, #SpaceonEarth, directed by Outsider's Dan Nathan, who also shot the accompanying print campaign. In the video [top], refugee children recount their experiences, hopes and dreams on a TV which floats high above the earth powered by a hot air balloon, conveying the message that in a world as big as ours, there surely must be a safe place they can eventually call home.

Almost 1 million Rohingya were forced to flee the violence in their homes a year ago, seeking refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. An estimated 500,000 of these refugees are children, currently living in desperate conditions in the largest refugee camp on earth, situated on the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The children arrived traumatised and malnourished, and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, many of them suffering mentally and physically from the atrocities they have experienced.

BRAC estimates that US$56 million funding is needed for its humanitarian progamme on the ground - for shelter, hygiene and healthcare, drinking water, food and proper nutrition, vaccination and learning centre - and hopes the campaign will drive donations to the cause.

"Nobody was listening to their plight on earth, so I gave them a voice in space" - Ajab Samrai, CCO, Ogilvy ASEAN 

Ogilvy’s Singapore-based ASEAN chief creative officer, Ajab Samrai, spent two weeks in the Rohingya refugee camp - the largest in the world - near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, researching and capturing the community's shocking stories for the campaign. 

“Over 30 years in the industry, I’ve learnt and acquired powerful creative tools to sell products and services and I’ve always felt these tools can be utilized as a force for good," says Samrai." I have two young children and as the Rohingya crisis unfolded I was compelled to do something about it – so much so, I went to the camps and lived with the Rohingya for two weeks. I wanted to give the most unempowered people on the planet a voice. Nobody was listening to their plight on earth, so I gave them a voice in space.”

To find out more and to donate visit the BRAC website.