Rohingya refugees in Malaysia recount harrowing journeys and continued struggles for survival. Many fled Myanmar after their villages were destroyed.

For nine days, Nurul Nisa was crammed onto one of four fishing boats with 130 others, fleeing her village in Myanmar in search of safety. She was a child then, but she still remembers the crying, the sleepless nights and the hunger. “We had to drink seawater,” she said, recalling the journey she made with her mother and two sisters in 2010, after their village had been burnt down. To secure the four wooden fishing boats needed for the voyage, the villagers pooled their resources and sold...