The Forgotten Stories Club hosted a showing of “Wonder Woman” to support the Rohingya people of Myanmar, who have been described as “the world’s most persecuted minority.” The movie screening was held to raise funds to donate directly to Mercy-USA to aid in their service to the people.

The suggested cost of admission was $2. Popcorn and sodas were sold for $2 and $1, respectively. In all, the event hauled in $111.58. The club plans on sponsoring other movie nights next semester, seeing how this one was a success.

Club President Yousef Abu-Salah commented on how the club plans on using movie nights to fund future programs.  

“The club plans to host these movie nights, primarily in the second semester. We don’t only do these type of things, but they are successful.”

The Rohingya people, who have resided for centuries in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, are being denied citizenship. This has left the people stateless. Most Rohingya live on the West coast of Myanmar, and are restricted from leaving the area. They reside in the state of Rakhine, which is one of the most impoverished states in the country. The opportunities for the Rohingya are limited in education and employment.  

A recent Al Jazeera article introduces the Rohingya and describes the devastating situation they face:

“Their rights to study, work, travel, marry, practice their religion and access health services have been and continue to be restricted. The Rohingya cannot vote and even if they jump through the citizenship test hoops, they have to identify as ‘naturalised’ as opposed to Rohingya, and limits are placed on them entering certain professions like medicine, law or running for office.”

Students commented on their reasons for supporting the movie screening.

Junior Lori Feng supported the movie night because she believes the limited awareness of the tragedy is pitiful.

“This is honestly an important topic that needs more awareness, and I believe that the Forgotten Stories Club is one of the many unique aspects of MSMS that I appreciate. Thousands upon thousands of innocent Rohingya Muslims are being persecuted for their ethnicity by the Myanmar government, and not enough his being done to support these innocent victims of genocide.”

“I supported the movie night because I love the movie and it was for a good cause,” junior Kelsey Hollingsworth stated

Abu-Salah stated the reason the club chose to sponsor the people was because of the limited attention the people were receiving.“The Forgotten Stories Club decided to sponsor the Rohingya people of Myanmar, because we believed that this group is facing one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the modern world that is just not being heard of. This lack of coverage and media attention is primarily why we chose to help these people; they need awareness in order to hopefully gain help. The Rohingya people are a Muslim-minority group in Myanmar who are currently facing a genocide of sorts as the government and locals proceed to try to wipe them out in increasingly violent ways.”

Regardless the reason, the movie raised a substantial amount of money to support a worthy cause.The next fundraising event for the Rohingya people will be a trivia night on Wednesday, November 29.  The club plans on focusing on another global need next semester and expects to use different methods of fundraising for the next charity.