ADRA’s Statement on World Refugee Day
Silver Spring, Md.— This World Refugee Day, there are more than 60 million people around the world who are internally displaced, seeking asylum, or living as refugees in other countries. The United Nations has described the Syrian crisis, which has displaced approximately half of the country’s population, as the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era. […]
Children shouldn’t be victims: The hard life of a child refugee
When we ask refugees why they fled their country, the majority of people tell us that they left because they feared for the safety of their children. We heard harrowing stories of forced marriages, abductions, near-misses with snipers’ bullets, and spoke to a mother who lost twin one-year-olds in a bombing. Another mother asked her […]
I am a human: Sonia’s Story
My name is Sonia. I am 25 years old and I am from Afghanistan, in the Badakhshan province. I was a GIZ [a German company that specializes in international development] employee for five years beginning in 2009. I was working for a gender project of our partner, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. We were conducting […]
‘I thank ADRA for letting me help my people’: A translator’s story
Fahad, 24, is an ADRA translator from Iraq. His family left when he was 14 years old. “There was no electricity and no water. I go out and see dead people, I see bombs. I was in school when a bomb fell nearby, and blew out the windows of the school. It takes you a […]
‘It was like a horror movie’: Idomeni Refugee Camp, Greece
When Europe started closing its borders and refugees entering Greece became stranded, many of them congregated in Idomeni. The informal camp was the largest in Greece, with more than 10,000 people gathering at the Macedonian border hoping to be allowed to continue on their journey. An unofficial camp, there was no government assistance for services […]
Everything costs money: EKO Station Refugee Camp, Greece
EKO Station is an unofficial camp in Greece. That means that the camp just sprung up, and there is no government services or support for refugees. Up to 1,300 refugees having been living there for the past few months, since Macedonia closed its border with Greece. For many, it was a welcome alternative to Idomeni, […]
Our Global Work with Refugees
Thank you for serving refugees around the world – this work couldn’t be done without you. Everywhere you see marked in red on this map is a place where you are making it possible for ADRA staff and volunteers to serve people who have been forcibly displaced by conflict and persecution. Helping refugee and internally […]
‘I didn’t want to leave Syria’: A translator’s story
Lina, 25, is Serbian-Syrian, born in Serbia to a Serbian mother and Syrian father. When she was 12, her father died, and she traveled to Syria with her mother and older brother, Samir, to return his body to his homeland. They didn’t plan to stay long, but as her mother now had two children to […]
ADRA Honduras Seeing Success in Zika Prevention
ADRA is acting to help stop the spread of Zika in Honduras, where 30,768 infections have been reported. ADRA Honduras is actively working in communities where the Zika and Chikungunya viruses have infected thousands. The main objective this response effort is to provide prevention actions thru mobilizing and training community health volunteers, community cleaning campaigns, raising awareness […]
When fear clouds our compassion
In just a few short months, the response to refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East has gone from one of compassion and welcome, to one of fear and condemnation. Over and over again, we are hearing that we shouldn’t help refugees because they are terrorists, and that helping them puts our lives at risk. […]
