Stories

A year after a devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, many families are still rebuilding their homes and livelihoods while coping with loss and uncertainty.

In any humanitarian crisis, children usually face the greatest hardships. Across conflict-affected areas, simple actions – such as walking to a neighbour’s house or reading a chalkboard – can become impossible hurdles for children living with disabilities.

A bullet wound. Handwritten death threats. Months spent waiting in shelters meant for temporary halts. Across Mexico, thousands are fleeing violence, poverty and disasters. Many are trapped between the dangers they escaped and borders they cannot cross.

In the village of Kafr Amma in the Aleppo countryside, 10-year-old Leen has recently returned home with her family following years of displacement caused by conflict.

In northeast Nigeria, the night has long been a source of dread for expectant mothers. In a region where insecurity and displacement have pushed healthcare out of reach, the onset of labour after sundown

In early April 2025 there were widespread floods in Somalia, 6-year-old Faiza Abdi was among those affected. Before the floods, Faiza was attending first grade in her local primary school. Thanks to EU funds she is now back in school under a Mango tree.

Mali is currently facing one of the world’s most severe, least publicised, and most underfunded humanitarian crises - a situation likely to worsen in 2026.

After decades spent building lives across the border, thousands of Afghans are now returning from neighbouring countries every day – many pushed out by mounting pressure, restrictive policies, and deteriorating living conditions, while others face sudden, forced deportation.

In Afghanistan, the guns have fallen silent, but the war remains buried beneath the soil in the form of deadly explosive items, including landmines and unexploded remnants of war.

Paola crossed a bridge with a backpack, her little child and no way back. She left her home, her job and her town to stay alive. Like her, thousands of people arrive every year at the border between Colombia and Ecuador, running away from threats, violence and fear.

Earlier this year, renewed unrest in South Sudan forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Families crossed the border into Ethiopia, seeking safety in places like Matar. Here, the most basic needs such as clean water, food and shelter are scarce.

In the hills of Tigray, where displacement has reshaped daily life, strength often reveals itself in small, steady gestures. Belaynesh grips her white jerrycan with steady hands. What once felt unbearably heavy now feels lighter, almost routine.

In 2023, the escalation between Azerbaijan and Karabakh and the subsequent ceasefire afterwards led to the exodus of more than 100.000 Karabakh people to Armenia.

Lebanon is marked by continued economic and social instability, with 2.2 million Lebanese in need of humanitarian aid. The wide economic breakdown left families struggling to make ends meet, while the country is also hosting the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.

For over a decade, war negatively shaped Ahmed’s family’s life: they were displaced, separated, and forced to abandon everything they held dear. When the Assad regime fell in December 2024, they were able to return to their village.

Meet Polish and Sonita, 2 young people in Cameroon who turned trauma into strength, thanks to an impactful humanitarian partnership between the European Union and INTERSOS.

'We fled after the arrival of armed groups. I had to ensure the safety of my family,’ says Rafiki Dukuze, a father of four, recalling the day violence forced him and his wife Ancila Niyonzima out of their home in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

With funds received from donors like the European Union, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working to register and renew the documents of 150,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Iraq in 2025.

It’s the early afternoon in the Kalobeyei refugee settlement, northern Kenya, and Garang has just finished conducting his daily radio show. With EU funding, Film Aid Kenya runs the station as part of its larger network of refugee community radios.

From afar, the trees almost look as if they were decorated with oversized Christmas ornaments. But a closer look reveals a more sobering reality: plastic bags swept up by the wind and caught in their branches.