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

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

Letter to Mom - Solange

UNHCR REFUGEE REGISTRATION IN SENEGAL

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, opening his informal two-day Dialogue on Protection Challenges 2012, noted that all major faiths "share the notion of the stranger who must be given protection."

UNHCR High Commissioner António Guterres speech on faith and refugee protection

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

Letter to Mom - Solange

UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency

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