Contributors

Kirsten Burner

Photographer, Washington, D.C

Kirsten has an undergraduate degree in Human Development from Brigham Young University. While there, she worked as a photographer for the BYU Communications Department and learned photo-journalistic style photography for lectures, banquets, sports games as well as in-studio and on-location portraits. After graduation, she worked on the visual design team for a retail store in Alexandria while continuing to grow her own wedding and family photography business. She also worked with a wedding videography and photography company, Video Express, before moving to Japan for three years. She and her husband relocated back to the DC area from Japan last July and have two young children. She is always trying to put an artistic spin on things she's involved with.

What would you do if you had to leave everything behind?

By the end of 2025, more than 117.8 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced by war, persecution, or human rights abuses — and 45 million of them are children.

They arrive in refugee camps and countries seeking safety and carrying little: legal papers, if they're lucky. A backpack. A child's hand in theirs.

What they carry that we can't see is heavier: fractured families, homes they'll never return to, professions they loved, friends and relatives they may never see again.

In a climate where immigrant stories are often ignored or twisted, we believe stories are a form of justice. When someone shares what they survived, they reclaim their voice. When we amplify it through film, photography, and advocacy, the world listens. Hearts soften. Policy begins to shift.

Because when a lawmaker sees a person instead of a statistic, and a neighbor understands instead of fears, rebuilding becomes possible.

Your support helps us share these stories where they matter most.

— Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director, Their Story is Our Story

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