Hello, my name is Mong Marma, and I live in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.

I belong to the Marma Indigenous community from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh.

I am a Rotary Peace Fellow, a human rights advocate for Indigenous and marginalised peoples, and a member of Northern Rivers Friends of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

For generations, Indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have faced state violence, military occupation, forced displacement, and dispossession from ancestral lands. Our survival as distinct peoples — our culture, language, and identity — is under threat.

On 28 September 2025, tragedy struck my community once again. Bengali settlers and the Bangladesh Army opened fire on Marma Indigenous villagers in Guimara, Khagrachari District, killing three young Marma men and leaving many others critically injured. More than 80 homes and 50 small shops were burned to ashes, leaving families with nothing but grief and uncertainty.

This horrific attack is not an isolated event — it is part of an ongoing pattern of systemic violence and a deliberate policy aimed at the slow erasure of Indigenous peoples in the CHT.

Today, I am reaching out to the global community to stand in solidarity with the people of Guimara.

Your support will help families rebuild their homes, access food, clothing, and medical care, and restore hope and dignity to a community devastated by injustice.

Together, we can show that compassion and solidarity know no borders — and that the people of Guimara are not alone.

Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a real difference.