Stories

In the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict at the end of 2020 resulted in a significant disruption to education. Approximately 2.4 million school-aged children were denied the right to education for 3 academic years.

After a decade of civil war in Yemen, millions of lives have been devastated, leaving over half the population struggling to find their next meal. For Abdulaleem, a father of 6, this harsh reality is a daily battle.

After a long and arduous search for safety, many refugees arrive in Thailand carrying trauma and suffering from health issues. The European Union and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), ensure that the most vulnerable have access to medical treatment and psychological first aid.

The Jenin refugee camp is located in the outskirts of the namesake city in the northern West Bank. Established in 1953 to house Palestine refugees forcibly displaced by Israeli forces in 1948, the camp hosts nowadays some 25,000 people.

Fleeing Colombia’s revived conflicts, Ecuador’s spiraling violence, or Venezuela’s continuous collapse, close to 300,000 people have crossed the Darien Gap - the deadly jungle isthmus connecting Colombia to Panama – as of June 2024, desperate for a measure of safety.

It starts with smoke – a single column of black smoke rising on the other side of the village. Then a second, a third. Houses are burning. Soon, the sound of gunshots and screaming. This has been the reality for millions of people in Cabo Delgado since the conflict started in October 2017.

20 years on, Darfur is once again on fire and a theatre of mass atrocities. Traumatised, shocked, and suffering the most horrific repercussions from the war, Sudanese refugees who manage to flee embark on risky journeys, often walking for days before reaching the Chadian border.

In the Rusayo IDP camp, located at the foot of the Nyiragongo volcano in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lives Salomé (alias), 37 years old, a mother of 11 children and a survivor of sexual violence by an unidentified armed group, while fleeing hostilities in Masisi territory.

Al Houri camp, located in Gedaref, eastern Sudan, has become a refuge for those fleeing the ongoing conflict. Among them is Ashraf, 48, who was forced to leave his home in Sennar when clashes erupted last July.

As the harsh Ukrainian winter approaches, their owners face a stark challenge: how to protect themselves and their damaged homes from the bitter cold and the dangers it brings.

Before the ground dried and hardened, Amburo and her husband were farmers. They grew enough maize to sell at the local market, and to provide for their 4 children. Life was hard, but a life all the same. There were times of joy.

They were injured in the Syrian conflict, caught in the earthquake in Türkiye, or were affected by different diseases. What these experiences have in common is that all their lives have been fundamentally distorted, and they have gone on to live as people with disabilities.

Families in Gaza are stuck in a dramatic situation where regular markets have collapsed, while the available food and goods are scarce, with prices skyrocketing. The massive destruction of infrastructure has heavily impacted Gaza’s farms, normally a source of sustenance for the locals.

Mahassin Mohammed Ibrahim was cooking a meal for her family in the Sudanese city of El Fasher when her front door swung open, and a hand grenade clattered to the ground. The ensuing blast showered the room with shrapnel, leaving the 39-year-old bleeding on the floor.

Life in Lebanon has always been marked by resilience, but the challenges faced by its people today are unprecedented.

The Amazon is burning like never before. Unusual warm and dry weather, consequences of both global warming and El Niño phenomenon, have exposed Latin America to unprecedented wildfires.

In pictures, see how the World Food Programme (WFP), with funding from the European Union, help most affected families go through this hard time with cash transfers.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 330,713 people were internally displaced in Mali in May 2024. In the Timbuktu region, more than 5 out of 10 displaced people, including children, lack identification documents. This was the case for Deyloul’s 2 nephews.

Exactly 1,000 days ago, on 24 February 2022, Russia waged an all-out war on Ukraine. These days will forever be marked by the immeasurable suffering of the Ukrainian people but also by their outstanding resilience.