A Mother’s Love: Celebrating Courage and Resilience Beyond Borders

Jannatara was recently widowed and pregnant when she boarded a boat from Bangladesh, where she had been living in one of the refugee camps since fleeing persecution and violence in Myanmar in 2017. Now, she and her 10-day-old baby are sheltering in the basement of a building along with some 120 other Rohingya refugees who arrived in Aceh, Indonesia. They urgently need support. © UNHCR/Amanda Jufrian

Grandmother Ashwaq Masoud, a 67-year-old refugee in Jordan, has single-handedly raised nine orphans in the midst of difficulties brought by being forced to flee from Iraq. She has raised and provided for her grandchildren with remarkable resilience, strength, and love, after their mother died and their father abandoned them. © UNHCR/Batool Ghaith

32-year old Rawda, a breastfeeding mother, recently sought safety in Chad along with thousands of refugees, most of whom are women and children. As of April 2024, more than 570,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Chad since the conflict started one year ago. The Chadian government, UNHCR and partners are on the ground to make sure new arrivals are registered and referred to available services. © UNHCR/Ying Hu

Fatmeh and her elderly mother Khadijah fled their home in Syria, leaving with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They endured much hardship during displacement, and found their house completely damaged and uninhabitable upon returning. UNHCR and its partners reinstalled doors, windows, and sanitation facilities, and now they can live with dignity in their cherished home once more. © UNHCR/Vivian Toumeh

Ma Phyu Ma, an internally displaced Rohingya, stands by her makeshift shelter built from from wood and bamboo scavenged from the wreckage after Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar’s Rakhine with brutal force on May 2023. UNHCR with the support of donors and partners continue to provide humanitarian assistance to families affected by the cyclone, including shelter materials and core relief items, where possible. © UNHCR/Reuben Lim Wende

Divine, 24, a mother of one, is staying at a camp for internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She desperately wants peace to return and for the fighting to stop. UNHCR with the support of donors and partners is working to help displaced people with shelter support and core relief items, but needs are still enormous, including for water, food, emergency healthcare and overall protection. © UNHCR/Blaise Sanyila

Nyamajana, a mother of three, is a refugee living in Kenya after fleeing from Congo in 2015. Thanks to her access to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), she doesn't have to worry about her family's health care needs, including the delivery of her second born. UNHCR in Kenya works with NHIF to ensure refugees have access life-saving health services. © UNHCR/Charity Nzomo

Gladys and her son live in El Salvador, in a rural community prone to earthquakes and forced displacement. UNHCR has helped rehabilitate her home, and works with communities and partners in El Salvador to address the protection needs of internally displaced persons, people at risk of displacement, refugees, asylum-seekers, and returnees. © UNHCR/Markel Redondo

Mother of four, Hamsiya, brought her one-year-old child by boat all the way to the neighboring island municipality of Tabuan Lasa in Basilan for birth registration supported by UNHCR in partnership with MSSD and UNICEF. Her children now have birth certificates, giving them a legal identity and improved access to education, livelihood, health care, and other social services. © UNHCR/Karen Cepeda

A mother holds her child during the birth registration activity in the remote municipality of Maimbung, Sulu. Through this initiative, populations that have been identified to be at risk of statelessness such as the Sama Bajau and unregistered children in the context of displacement due to armed conflict can now easily register and get their birth certificates. © UNHCR/Yam Palma

Kinsilina, a Sama Bajau, dreams for her children to have access to education, job opportunities, and a chance at a better life. Her dreams are now within reach, thanks to the birth registration initiative of UNHCR in collaboration with UNICEF, the Civil Registrar’s Office of Zamboanga City, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. © UNHCR/Martin San Diego

A mother and child smile from the window of their home in Tabuan Lasa, Basilan. UNHCR continues to provide strategic and technical support to the Philippine Government in addressing internal displacement and in advocating for the passage of rights-based IDP legislation at the national level and within the Bangsamoro region. © UNHCR/Yam Palma

Sama Bajau mothers bring their children to the birth registration activity in the Municipality of Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi. UNHCR continues to work with partners to ensure birth registration of populations at risk of statelessness. The effort forms part of the implementation of the UNHCR-UNICEF Joint Strategy to Ending Childhood Statelessness and the Philippine Government’s National Action Plan to End Statelessness. © UNHCR/Gia Luga