Archive

We share stories to move people to act. Explore our stories archive using the filters below, then learn how you can help.

Hassan From You Tube
Syria

"Are We in Control of Our Destiny?"

Hassan asks: "In times of war, are we in control of our destiny?"
Kamil Painting
Syria

KAMIL

Kamil was born a refugee, as was his father, Akhtar. His Palestinian grandparents fled to Syria in the late 1940’s and raised their family in Yarmouk, a thriving, almost exclusively Palestinian suburb of Damascus.
Ahktar Crying
Syria

AKHTAR

STORY UPDATE: Akhtar is an expert craftsman in marble and granite. His life's work. All gone.
Roksana1
Afghanistan

My Name is Roksana

I am from Afghanistan and I am 18 years old. I want to tell my story of my journey to Europe.
Holding On Full Image
Syria

Holding On

They live in uncertainty, but are remarkably resilient and cheerful in bad conditions. They hold up the best they can, and cling to the most important things - loved ones, faith, and hope.
LRSFSM59
Afghanistan

The Taliban Kidnapped Our Daughter

We had an 8-year-old daughter, which the Taliban came and kidnapped from in front of our house.
Dr  Abdul Nasser Kaadan Cu Copy
Syria

Abdul Nasser

Dr. Abdul Nasser Kaadan, of Aleppo Syria, is a highly regarded physician and scholar. But his honors, credentials, and vital work could not keep him safe in his home country.
Baratt
Afghanistan

BARAAT

My name is Baraat and I am here in this camp with my wife and three kids. We left our country seeking a better place, and not as the helpless refugees we are now.
James Portrait Copy
Afghanistan

James

James has survived two bombings, a stabbing, the murder of his small son and gunmen opening fire at his front door. He and his wife and two surviving children hope to find peace and security in Europe. They have been in camps in Greece since April, 2016.
Zarrin drawing by Elizabeth Benson Thayer
Zarrin  ·  Afghanistan

The Journey: The Sea Was Like a Storm

I don't want to ever go back to the sea.
Ahmed Story Update
Afghanistan

Ahmed

Ahmed was shot twice by police as he crossed borders with his children.
Unfamiliar Wm
United States

Familiar Faces

Ellin met some local refugees at a gathering in August 2016, and now helps them practice English weekly at their family home.
Unaccompanied Wm

Unaccompanied Minors

In 2015, 10,000 vulnerable minors disappeared in the overwhelming immensity of the refugee humanitarian crisis.
Mama Bear Wm
United States

Mama Bear

Lisa Campbell, Director of Operations for NPO "Do Your Part," doesn't run a charity, she runs a small self-governing, self-reliant community.
Life Vests Desk

Life Vests

"I am struck by what it must have represented to the man, woman, or child who wrapped themselves in these life vests and pushed off from their home continent."
Musa Crop 2
Afghanistan

Musa

"I got attacked two times. The first attack was normal. A rocket just came and went in one window and came out another. Then I was leaving one province and going to another province, I got attacked there by an RPG."
Ghazal Full Cropped
Afghanistan

Ghazal

Ghazal wishes she could go to school, but now spends her time staying fit and sharing the one bicycle with the other kids in her camp.
Omed Chess Wm
Afghanistan

Omed

Omed was beat up and picked on because he is from a tribe discriminated against by terrorists, and because his sister works and his mother was a teacher.
Goats
United States

East African Goat Project

​The East African Refugee Goat Project, which leases goats to large companies for an eco-friendly form of weed control, creates jobs for refugees who help tend the goats.
Aeham Smiling
Aeham  ·  Syria

Our Lives Before: The Piano Man of Yarmouk

His musical notoriety brought condemnation from ISIS, which banned western music. So they torched his piano.
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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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