This week, we’re honouring World Refugee Day, an event that spotlights the ongoing struggles that refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons) face around the world – and what we can do to help.
More than 108 million people around the world are considered refugees – forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict, persecution, or natural disasters, and forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Some flee to other countries if they can, while others remain within their homeland but are uprooted from their own homes.
Whether they’re refugees in a foreign country or IDPs, their story is one of hardship and struggle. Living without protection or recognition from the law, fighting to find a place to stay, struggling to find work and put food on the table – this is the daily reality of people like Mdm Wafaa and her children.
Mdm Wafaa is a Syrian refugee, and the mother of six lovely children. She brought them to Türkiye 4 years ago, fleeing conflict in their homeland and seeking treatment for one of her daughters – 6-year-old Rajaa has kidney cancer, and needs regular specialised medical care.
Türkiye was meant to be a new beginning for Mdm Wafaa and her family. But as unregistered refugees, she and her kids have limited opportunities. It’s hard for her to find a job, and she lives in fear that one day she will not be able to provide for them, and her children will go hungry.
What can we do to help people like Mdm Wafaa?
The issue of refugees can seem like it’s too big to tackle. While it’s true that to resolve the crisis we will need systemic change that will take years of work, in the meantime what we can do is simple – give them hope.
This year’s theme for World Refugee Day is “Hope Away From Home”, to remind us of how we can help refugees hold on to hope despite their circumstances.
A simple meal may not seem like it’s much help, but to Mdm Wafaa, it’s a huge weight off her shoulders. A meal means that she will not have to worry about her children going to bed with empty bellies.
A meal gives her hope that someday she will not have to struggle to keep her family afloat.
This Eid-ul Adha, your Qurban donations can be part of what gives refugees hope in spite of their plight. With their most basic need for sustenance met, the refugees you help can focus their energy on healing and rebuilding their lives.
When you donate a Qurban for Refugees package, you’re giving a family like Mdm Wafaa’s a month’s supply of fresh meat, and the assurance that they won’t have to go hungry. Join us in bringing hope to refugees across the Middle East and Africa, and make a difference in their lives.
Your sacrifice will be their blessings.
