How your Zakat has helped rebuild the lives of refugees
By Lynn Al Nasser For Muslims around the world, the Holy Month of Ramadan is a time of reflection, gratitude and patience. It is a time for families and communities to gather and break their fast (iftar) together. For 30 days, Muslims are required to fast from sunrise...
NASIMCO volunteer draws on personal experience to support refugees
By Fiona Irvine-Goulet Gulamabbas Najafi, Vice-President of NASIMCO (North American Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities), understands what it’s like to be a refugee: in 1972, during Uganda’s brutal regime of Idi Amin, Najafi and his family were forced to flee from...
Online learning program empowers refugees to pursue higher education
Master’s student in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp plays active role in campus life at Canada’s York University By Lauren La Rose Abdikadir Bare Abikar has never seen York University in person, yet distance has proved to be no barrier for the graduate student who has...
Inside Venezuela: One of the largest and most far-reaching emergencies of our time
Traditionally, Venezuela has been a generous host to thousands of refugees. But with escalating economic instability, violence and a lack of access to food, medicine and jobs, Venezuelan families themselves have been forced to flee their country. By the end of 2019,...
South Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan
Three under-reported refugee situations that you may not know about With more than 70.8 million people forcibly displaced by dozens of crises, it can be difficult to know about all of them. Here, we’re highlighting refugee situations that are under-reported,...
The invisible crisis: A UNHCR staffer on the front lines in Venezuela
By Hannah Scott It can be hard to imagine a crisis involving more than four million people as invisible — but to UNHCR Communications Officer Olga Sarrado Mur, the Venezuela situation often feels that way. In April of 2018, Sarrado Mur was working in Jordan helping...
Mosul metalworker helps Old City neighbours after displacement
Coming back to this historic district after two long years, Saad found help to repair his house. Now he is putting his skills to work so others can return home. By Firas Al-Khateeb in Mosul, Iraq Ashwaq skips cheerfully past the rubble of destroyed buildings in...
“I want to inspire refugees”
Olympian and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini on resiliency, Tokyo 2020, and how the Olympics bring people together By Yusra Mardini, as told to Hannah Scott Syrian refugee and swimmer Yusra Mardini was appointed the youngest ever UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in...