During the internet shutdown, when communication with these faraway loved ones was impossible, one interviewee, Kyaw Kyaw, described their feeling as having “lost connection with the world.”157 In our interviews in the refugee camps, conducted just before Bangladesh restored service, our interviewee’s longing for their families was palpable. Asked what the restoration of the internet would mean to him, Omor Faruque said, “Communication to relatives [in] foreign countries such as video calls and audio calls to get peace and restore the missing moments of them by seeing their faces and children.”158 Communication serves practical as well as emotional needs. As Ro Arfat Khan, a resident of the Cox’s Bazar camp, observed, “we are suffering difficulties and facing uncertain future in Bangladesh. So, I think that internet facility is very much needed for me to talk with [my family abroad].”159 One surprise we found in the interview data was how much internet shutdowns also impacted our interviewee’s ability to communicate with friends and family locally. This was particularly apparent among our interviewees in Bangladesh. Although Md Rafique’s elderly parents also live in the refugee camps, he does not live with them, and given their diagnoses of diabetes and hypertension along with other health issues, he said—quite understandably— “I don't feel happy if I can't speak them twice per day over the phone.”160 Ro Arfat Khan also shared his need for internet to communicate with relatives and friends in the camp, noting that “Our lives become very difficult without internet access to survive in the refugee camp.“161 The importance of the internet for local communication also came up in one Myanmar interview: Patricia reported one of her main uses for the internet was connecting with friends on Facebook, and looked forward to “mak[ing] connections again with my friends from within and outside the country” if the internet were restored.162 Access to Healthcare We observed the theme of limited access to healthcare as an impact of internet shutdowns primarily among the interviewees in Bangladesh. As we noted above in the overview of the human rights situation in the Bangladeshi refugee camps, it is well documented that there are insufficient funds and infrastructure to supply adequate healthcare to the refugees. In a context like this, compounded by overcrowding and endemic disease, our interviewees made clear that the internet shutdowns had, at times, a devastating impact on their and their loved ones’ ability to access healthcare. 157 Myanmar interview 4. Name changed. 158 Bangladesh interview 1. 159 Bangladesh interview 3. 160 Bangladesh interview 5. This interviewee also told us a harrowing story, included in the Access to Healthcare section, about his parents’ inability to reach him during an acute health crisis. 161 Bangladesh interview 3. 162 Myanmar interview 3. 36