In the opening episode, we tell the story of two refugees who made very different journeys more than 35 years apart, but who faced many similar challenges in their efforts to escape conflict and persecution – including exploitation, abuse and despair before escape, rescue and renewed hope. 
 
Thuy is a refugee from Viet Nam who fled in 1979 as one of the millions of “boat people”. Instead of a swift rescue, she was marooned on an island where she had to hide every night from marauding pirates. We also hear the story of Samrawit, an Eritrean woman who fled her home in 2016 only to be abducted by people traffickers. Once freed, she later survived a shipwreck off the coast of Libya before her odyssey ultimately led her to Sweden.

Escape

From the world’s biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, to a stroll down the Champs Elysées (not that one, the other one) to a hair-raising, 1,200-kilometre journey in search of a new start in a Colombian town… “Seeking Shelter” looks at how the forcibly displaced find ways to adapt, survive and thrive once they have reached a place of safety. In August 2017, facing unimaginable violence and the destruction of their villages, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown. In only three years, what had been an area of jungle quickly turned into a refugee camp the size of a full-blown city. In Jordan, meanwhile, some of the millions of displaced Syrians who found shelter in refugee camps have set up thriving markets, businesses, sports clubs, schools and more as they seek to rebuild their lives. Today, however, most refugees are to be found not in camps but in urban or semi-urban areas, trying to find decent accommodation, make a living and give their children a good start in life – as the story of a remarkable Venezuelan couple illustrates.

Seeking Shelter

For many young refugees, early memories of childhood are dominated by conflict, fear and the trauma of losing everything that is comforting and familiar – family, friends, school…

In “Pencils and Pictures”, we meet two young refugees who encountered war, loss and what seemed like an endless series of obstacles and setbacks. But through sheer courage and determination, they discovered their passions – teaching and photography – and in so doing were able to forge their own futures.

With an unshakeable belief in the power of education, both went on to help other vulnerable youngsters to overcome the same daunting challenges that they once faced.

Pencils and Pictures

“Line of Fire” is the second of two episodes that delve into some of the major emergencies of the past 70 years. We begin with one of the most challenging humanitarian crises that UNHCR has faced: the devastating Bosnian wars of the 1990s, with a particular focus on the airlift that saved countless lives during the infamous siege of Sarajevo. We also invite three people who are working in the midst of an ongoing conflict, Yemen, to document a day in their lives as they strive to help some of the millions of people trapped by war, disease, poverty and hunger.

Line of Fire

For many refugees trying to work out how to rebuild their lives, solutions can be hard to come by. &nbsp;In “New Beginnings”, we meet refugees who have managed to start over even when rules, regulations and public attitudes seemed stacked against them. From Latin America to Europe to New Zealand, whether cooking up new dishes or cooking up new music, these men and women used their strengths and talents to turn adversity into success. But for millions of others, the opportunities to return home or to make a new life in a new land can seem well out of reach…

New Beginnings

Seventy years since the 1951 Refugee Convention was signed, forced displacement is at record levels – more than 82 million people at the end of 2020, and rising every year for the past decade. In the final episode of this series of Forced To Flee, we look at the long-term options for refugees, asylum-seekers and the internally displaced. We meet refugees who through courage and determination have overcome multiple obstacles to thrive in new places. But we also examine how some countries are making it harder to find refuge; how protracted wars – and political indecision – are forcing millions to wait for solutions; and how climate change, the biggest global challenge of our times, is already becoming a major driving force behind displacement.

A Changing World

Iryna Morykvas discusses how fleeing Ukraine with her son changed her perspective on love, peace and safety, and inspired her to design the 2022 World Refugee Day emoji.

HOUSE: ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD

HELP & SUPPORT

PEACE AND LOVE

Dear Refugee is an occasional series featuring letters from young people to refugees who have shaped their lives.

You can read and listen to more letters from this series here: https://www.unhcr.org/dear-refugee

My Dear Ba - Aryan

Cher Père - Solenn

Dear Father - Solenn

Dear Nazar - Oliwier

Letter to Mom - Solange

Dear Dadu – a letter from Yash

A 30 second clip of Melissa Fleming giving insight into the conditions refugees from Syria are now facing.

UNHCR Spokesperson Melissa Fleming on 3 million Syrian refugees

Eight years into the war in Syria, UNHCR's Christopher Reardon paid a visit to the house where his friend Hani Al Moulia grew up. Like vast parts of Hani's hometown, it was in a state of ruin.

Read the letter and watch videos of Hani here: https://medium.com/we-the-peoples/i-stopped-by-your-house-in-syria-today-but-no-one-was-home-7b33dc301df2

I stopped by your house in Syria today, but no one was home

Extraordinary personal stories from people who have chosen to put themselves in harm's way, to help refugees. From UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Listen and learn more at https://www.unhcr.org/awakeatnight

Awake At Night

Fabrizio Hochschild has reached one of the highest positions in the United Nations. But he’s managed this achievement while learning to deal with the trauma he suffered while experiencing the horrors of the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. At times he thought it would cost him his career – but he now champions mental health care within the UN.

So Glad to be Alive

Boris Cheshirkov worked for UNHCR as a spokesperson in his native Bulgaria during Europe’s refugee crisis – when thousands of refugees were arriving at the border. It was an extremely tense time. Countries throughout Europe seemed at a loss at how to cope with the flow of desperate people. Anti-refugee feeling was running high. In Bulgaria, an asylum seeker was shot dead at the border. But when Boris spoke out against the violence, he himself became the target of a virulent online hate campaign. The threats were so severe he had to leave his country.

We Are Coming To Kill You

For the season 2 finale of UNHCR’s podcast series, the actor and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett talks about what keeps her Awake at Night. Describing her experience of working with UNHCR and meeting refugees as “one of the great privileges of my life”, Blanchett reflects on how it has profoundly altered her perception of human suffering and the capacity to hope.

The Path of Compassion

Adiba Qasim is from the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq. In August 2014, her village was stormed by Islamic State militants who killed and enslaved thousands of Yazidis. Adiba and her family managed to escape just before the militants arrived. She was 19 years old. “At 7:00 in the morning, relatives called my father and said: ‘We are now coming to the North, because the Islamic State are 3:00 in the morning attacked us and many people have been killed and it is very difficult. So, run away! Get out of your house’!” She was haunted by the knowledge that many of her friends and relatives were taken captive by Islamic State – and held as sex slaves. Some survived – and when they were freed, Adiba was there to help.

Home Is the People Around You

Melissa Fleming briefing the media.
Text: http://www.unhcr.org/50b898899.html
Story: http://www.unhcr.org/50b88d726.html
Recorded November 30, 2012

UNHCR Assessment Team finds acute humanitarian needs in Homs

UNHCR’s regional spokesperson in Asia, Vivian Tan, just visited Rakhine State, Myanmar. 
She sent us this one minute audio updated on conditions on the ground. She describes what she saw, the needs of the displaced, and how UNHCR is assisting. 

UNHCR update on the conditions in Rakhine, Myanmar

Very sick Syrians crossing into Jordan

Record number of refugees cross into Jordan

Yacoub El Hillo briefs: UNHCR humanitarian aid convoy reaches the displaced in northern #Syria

In this opening episode for Season 3 of Awake at Night, host Melissa Fleming speaks with David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, about&nbsp;his own experience being sick with COVID-19 and why people should listen to the science. &nbsp;He also explains why the pandemic is causing an spiraling epidemic of hunger. &nbsp;In Mr. Beasley's words, should the world fail to come together and invest in people everywhere, we may face a "famine of biblical proportions." From his home in South Carolina, to Yemen, to Sudan and Ethiopia, Mr. Beasley shares candid moments of his journey in the world of humanitarian work, and his thoughts on why the UN is needed now more than ever.

Never Ever Give Up

Leo Vanegas

Sebastian Yepes

We are the UN Refugee Agency. Follow us as we provide vital aid and protection to the forcibly displaced around the world.

UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency

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