Have you ever heard a plant singing?

Amid the echoing chatter of students in the busy classrooms of a public school in Sulaymaniyah, one voice stands out – that of 41-year-old Syrian refugee teacher Dalia Mahmoud. Confidently teaching the local Kurdish curriculum, Dalia brings refugee and local children together in her classroom to learn and build connections.  […]

For years, Azhar set off to work each morning with a knot of worry tightening in his chest. As a day labourer in the construction sector, he faced constant uncertainty—not just about securing work and a wage for the day, but about the safety and well-being of his family back […]

Every day, Narmine wakes up with a purpose to improve someone else’s day. As a Syrian refugee, she is no stranger to mental health challenges, having witnessed firsthand how issues like anxiety, depression, and anger are all too common among displaced communities. It is this personal experience, she explains, that […]

Kawe Haji, 42, moves around the makeshift tent she calls home in the Khanke camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Dohuk in Northern Iraq. A decade ago, she and her family fled Sinjar in Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, where the Yazidi population suffered atrocities at the hand of Da’esh militants.  […]

While students at the Kobane school in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I), enjoy their summer holidays, classrooms have opened their doors to other types of learners: refugee teachers and parents. Throughout the summer, Maqboola has been one of about 30 Syrian refugees attending morning language classes four […]

When Zaem fled violence and conflict in his hometown of Al-Hassakah in northeast Syria in 2019, he did not imagine that, a few years later, he would find peace – and a livelihood opportunity – in raising bees and harvesting honey in Iraq.  “I used to trade wheat, barley and […]

When Remas fled Syria and took shelter in the Kawergosk refugee camp in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I), in 2016 with his wife and five children, he had only one certitude: baking pastries is not only his passion; it will help him support his family in exile.  […]

Abeer, 38, and her husband Muneer fled their hometown in Aleppo, Syria, in 2021. They rented a small home in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I), and slowly began to rebuild their lives. They were overjoyed to welcome their first child – a boy, Joud – soon after. […]

When refugees can participate without discrimination in the local market, they contribute as employers, employees and clients.

The ease of having a health care center in Basirma means that both the local community and refugees will have access to life-saving medical care at any time without having to travel far.