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Stories

Iraq

DSC07230 Meredith Kelley
Abeer  ·  Iraq

If You Hear People Telling You That You Cannot Do Something, Make Sure You Do It

A refugee from Iraq defies expectations
Handsinlap
Yasmin  ·  Iraq

Finding and Helping Others through The Collateral Repair Project

Dhulfiqar Al Hamawendi
Dhulfiqar Al Hamawendi  ·  Iraq

You Will Get Far but You Need Help at First

IMG 6262 2
Aws  ·  Iraq

LGBTQ Activist Risks Arrest and Deportation to Help Other Refugees

Sarah, pharmacist Highline College
Sarah  ·  Iraq

A Career Pathway and a Safe Place to Work

While you're working, you feel safe.
Rawah
Rawah  ·  Iraq

Here I Can Make My Own Future

Here I can make my own life
Rita 2018
Rita  ·  Iraq

I Wanted to Be in Charge of My Destiny

In America, people follow their dreams
Samira
Iraq

Using Personal Experiences to Help Refugee Women

Women of the World
Samadi and Sabroo
Iraq

"We Always Kept One Bullet for Suicide"

In order to save our family, we were obliged to leave our country.
Mahommad
Iraq

MAHOMMAD

Mahommad is five-years-old and just moved here.
Tiba
Iraq

TIBA

Tiba exudes joy.
Sakina
Iraq

SAKINA

Sakina’s favorite thing about being in America is that it is safe and she gets to go to school.
Mohaned and Zainab with their family
Iraq

MOHANED AND ZAINAB (3/3)

In September 2016, Mohaned & Zainab arrived in Binghamton, Alabama with nothing.
Mohaned & Zainab (2)
Iraq

MOHANED AND ZAINAB (2/3)

In Iraq, Zainab was a stay-at-home mom and Mohaned was a taxi driver.
Mohaned & Zainab
Iraq

MOHANED AND ZAINAB (1/3)

We only want to live in peace and safety.
Amal
Iraq

Amal

"My family lives in western Iraq under the control of ISIS so whenever I see something in the news that has happened in Syria, I feel like my family is affected."
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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