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Haniah - West Africa  ·  Ghana

Arrival: Law

"He left me with two babies and went to Libya ... I wemt to Libya, but I didn't find him."

Photographer by Christophe Mortier
Story Editor by Twila Bird
Hania, West Africa

My name is Haniah. Life in my home country in West Africa is not bad, but you cannot get good work. My boyfriend left because of that problem, because of the word. We didn’t have money. So he left me with two babies and went to Libya. I didn’t hear from him at all - I got no information. I decided to go to look for him. I left the two babies with my mom and went to Libya, but I didn’t find him.

I found somebody to help me come to Italy in a ship. It was not easy. Some of the people died God helped me with everything. When I came to Italy and I found my boyfriend, he told me he wanted to marry me. I got pregnant. My boyfriend told me to come to this city. I took the train to come here. I gave birth, and they transferred me to this women’s shelter with my baby, Hope. My boyfriend comes to visit us.

I want to be a hairdresser, because I learned how to do it in my hometown. I know how to do braids. I want Hope to go to school. I fast and I pray to God. God know what I am, so He will help me. He helped me come here. He helped me to do what I needed to do.

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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.

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

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