Reporting from Refugee Camps Shaped Me, Pandemic Motherhood Strengthened Me

Here's why I need your support for Port of Entry + a new feature

Photo: Amir Hamza in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh

Five years ago, I was crouched in Bangladesh's refugee camps, notebook in hand, documenting the largest refugee crisis of the last decade. The Rohingya story captivated global headlines, but so much remained untold. Between interviews with refugees, I was investigating Bangladesh's garment industry, uncovering the routine harassment women workers faced daily.

Then March 2020 happened. One day I was filing stories from refugee camps and the next, well, the world shut down because of COVID-19, and so did my life as I knew it. I discovered I was pregnant on March 12th, the day after The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic and three days before my birthday.

Motherhood in a pandemic forced me to rethink everything. Field reporting as an independent journalist? Financially impossible …