NOWHERE PEOPLE 

Without citizenship status, the Bihari have no social safety net supporting them. Most Bihari in camps do not have access to healthcare, as less than a handful of camps have clinics. A sick 75 year-old-man sits alone in his room in Pat Godam Camp in Mymen

Camps have seen little maintenance in 35 years and suffer from a severe lack of water and sanitation. 4000 people live in Kurmi Tola Camp in the Mirpur district of Dhaka. The camp is littered with garbage and raw sewage.

Overcrowding plagues every Bihari camp. Living conditions are cramped and pose safety and health problems as entire families, some as large as 15, live in 8x10 foot living spaces. Two boys play in their room. A family of seven live in the space.

In March 2004, the Bangladesh government discontinued all food relief to the camps, making it even more difficult for families to provide for themselves. Most women continue to give birth to an average of 4 to 6 children. Two in five babies born to the Bi

In all of the camps throughout Bangladesh, water and sanitation are two of the most critical problems. In a section of S.B Nagar Camp in Chittagong, close to 1,500 people live in an old, crumbling, two-storey machinery building that has little ventilation

Two young boys work behind textile looms in Football Camp in Dhaka. Like many Bihari families, poverty and the lack of economic opportunities force children into the workforce instead of school.

Without citizenship, most Bihari cannot work in the private sector and are not given government jobs. Most work petty jobs that cater to others living in the Bihari camps. A man runs a small printing press out of the one room his family occupies.

Unemployment is incredibly high in the camps. Bihari men lack the skills to do more than manual day-labor jobs and are prohibited from working in even the lowest paying government jobs. Most face harassment and discrimination when trying to find work. Job

Many young Bihari feel they have been forgotten and that their generation has been lost. Most can't find jobs and are discriminated against by others. Some, like this young Bihari, have turned to drugs as they feel they have no future.

Camps once located on land of little value now sit in highly populated urban areas where real estate prices are at a premium. Though legal orders protect the camps, evictions for private development are not uncommon and leave a growing number of Bihari ho