Caroline Irby

  • UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett at the home of Alaa Al-Hamadi, a refugee from Syria living in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan with her children Sara, 7 years old, Kinana, 4 years old, and Omar, 10 months old
  • Street scenes in Zaatari refugee camp
  • A refugee from Syria in a workshop for adolescent girls in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan
  • Syrian refugee children at the UNICEF school in Zaatari refugee camp, where they are taught by Alaa Al-Hamadi, a Syrian refugee and DAFI scholar who graduated from teaching in 2018. Alaa has three children (Sara, 7 years old, Kinana, 4 years old, and Omar, 10 months old) who she leaves with neighbours or at a nursery in the camp when she goes to work. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett met Alaa at her home in Zaatari camp during both her 2016 and 2023 visits to Jordan. Zaatari refugee camp is located just south of the Syrian/Jordanian border, and opened in July 2012 to help Jordan manage the huge influx of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. Since then, this desert camp has grown exponentially, from a few tents hastily erected in the headlights of UNHCR vehicles to at times housing a population of more than 110,000 refugees. The current population of Zaatari is around 80,000. The camp is under the joint administration of the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate and UNHCR. Apart from basic shelter, the camp offers refugees access to basic assistance and services, free of charge.
  • Pigeons on the roof terrace of Marwan Aktaa, 60, a refugee from Homs, Syra, now living in Amman, Jordan
  • Marwan Aktaa, 60, a refugee from Homs, Syria, on the roof terrace outside the flat he rents in Amman. Marwan came to Jordan with his family in 2013, arriving in Zaatari camp where they spent one day, then moved to Amman. His wife, Yusra Oudeh, is 59 and together they have six children, living in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. All the children are married except for the youngest, Mohammad, 22, who lives with his parents. Mohammad dropped out of school once he arrived in Jordan; he occasionally works at a bakery. Marwan used to be a plumber in Syria, but now, due to his age and his medical condition (slipped disc), he has stopped working. Marwan has his sisters in Syria, but he has two siblings in Jordan. His landlord in Amman keeps pigeons on the roof terrace outside his flat, which Marwan helps look after in exchange for a rent reduction. He used to look after pigeons in Syria and loves being with them: feeding them, letting them in and out of their cages, communicating with them (his wife says he speaks bird). The family stopped receiving monthly cash assistance and never received food vouchers. The family was identified by the resettlement unit as being eligible to be relocated to a third country; if this is confirmed, it is likely to be Norway, Canada or the USA.
  • Lama Rweishdeh, 4, visits her grandparents Marwan Aktaa, 60, and his Yusra Oudeh, 59, refugees from Homs, Syria, often – she lives nearby in Amman. Her grandparents’ landlord keeps pigeons on the roof terrace outside their flat, which her grandfather, Marwan, helps look after, in exchange for a rent reduction. He used to look after pigeons in Syria and loves being with them: feeding them, letting them in and out of their cages and communicating with them (his wife says he speaks bird). Lama also loves being with the pigeons, and with her grandfather, on the roof top. Marwan and Yusra came to Jordan in 2013 with their six chldren, arriving in Zaatari camp where they spent one day before moving to Amman. Five of the six children are now married and live in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Only the youngest, Mohammad Aktaa, 22, still lives with his parents. Mohammad dropped out of school once he arrived in Jordan; he occasionally works at a bakery. Marwan used to be a plumber in Syria, but now, due to his age and his medical condition (slipped disc), he has stopped working. Marwan has his sisters in Syria, but he has two siblings in Jordan. The family stopped receiving monthly cash assistance and never received food vouchers. The family was identified by the resettlement unit as being eligible to be relocated to a third country; if this is confirmed, it is likely to be Norway, Canada or the USA.
  • Three pupils attending the primary school in Kabazana Reception Centre, Nakivale Refugee Settlement. One of the school’s two teachers is Francoise Mukundu, herself a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • UNHCR Supporter Gugu Mbatha-Raw in a temporary shelter for refugee women and young children in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda
  • Francoise Mukundu, a teacher at the primary school in Kabazana Reception Centre, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, with three of her pupils, all wearing uniforms she has made for them on her days off. “I want all my kids to be smart. When I make them uniforms and they get shoes, they are so happy. It makes the other kids want to come to school too.” Francoise is also a refugee, from Democratic Republic of Congo. She lost her entire family in DRC and came alone to Uganda.
  • UNHCR Supporter Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Congolese refugee Francoise Mukundu, at her home in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Francoise teaches at the primary school in the settlements’ registration centre. She can speak 7 languages fluently, and she is also Chair of the Women’s Centre.
  • South West Uganda
  • Veronice Umuhoza, 15, and her younger brother Mpuhwezimana Ejide, 8, are refugees from Democratic Republic of the Congo, who arrived in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in 2015 as unaccompanied minors. They spent three years living in the reception centre, but since 2018, have lived with foster parents.
  • UNHCR Supporter Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Rwamanja Refugee Settlement, talking with twins Dennis Butoto (left) and Bukuru Johnny (right), aged 22, both gospel singers. The twins are refugees from Democratic Republic of the Congo and fled because of Johnny’s albinism: he had been attacked four times and nearly lost his life.
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor visits community projects supported by UNICEF, in the neighbourhood of Ventanilla, Peru
  • Ventanilla, Peru
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor visits community projects supported by UNICEF, in the neighbourhood of Ventanilla, Peru
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor visits community projects supported by UNICEF, in the neighbourhood of Ventanilla, Peru
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor visits community projects supported by UNICEF, in the neighbourhood of Ventanilla, Peru
  • Crossing the Sahel - Keira Knightley's visit to Chad for UNICEF
  • Crossing the Sahel - Keira Knightley's visit to Chad for UNICEF
  • Keira Knightley filming for UNICEF in N’Djamena, Chad
  • N’Djamena, Chad
  • Keira Knightley with a malnourished child at a feeding centre supported by UNICEF in the Sahel, Chad.
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham travelled to Cambodia to see how UNICEF and its partners are helping children who have endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and are protecting vulnerable children from danger.
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham travelled to Cambodia to see how UNICEF and its partners are helping children who have endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and are protecting vulnerable children from danger.
  • Four brothers now living at a state orphanage in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2016, after suffering physical abuse from their fathers home.
  • A boy sleeps at a UNICEF supported drop in centre in Siem Reap Cambodia. The drop in centre offers street children a place to sleep, shower and access vital emotional support.
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham travelled to Cambodia to see how UNICEF and its partners are helping children who have endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and are protecting vulnerable children from danger.
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham travelled to Cambodia to see how UNICEF and its partners are helping children who have endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and are protecting vulnerable children from danger.
  • Cadette, 25, had her first child at 11; when we met, she was pregnant with her seventh. Her village in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, had flooded, so she was now living in a temporary settlement, squeezed into a two room house with her six children, her grandmother and her seven siblings who, as the eldest, she was also looking after. She had so much energy and an amazing sense of humour. The settlement is supported by UNHCR.
  • Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child
  • CADETTE, 25, OUTSIDE HER TEMPORARY HOME IN SOUTH KIVU (SEE PREVIOUS PICTURES)
  • UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Cadette, 25, at the temporary home she shares with her six children, her seven siblings and her grandmother, in South Kivu
  • UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Cadette (see previous pictures) in the plot where she grows food for her family, in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Early evening river crossing, Kasai-Central, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw meets Veronique Bundu, a refugee displaced by conflict in Congo and fled to to Angola; she recently returned and has just received keys to her newly built home in Tshilenge, a temporary settlement camp near Kananga, Kasai-Central Province, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Detail of the ‘safe space’ / counselling room at Walungu Health Centre, which is dedicated to the psychosocial care of survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The clinic comes under the banner of the Panzi Foundation and is supported by UNHCR
  • A survivor of gender-based violence in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. When Dr Denis Mukwege qualified as a gynaecologist and opened his clinic in Bukavu, DR Congo, in 1999, he didn't expect the majority of his clients to be rape victims. But Eastern Congo has been unstable since the mid 1990s; multiple armed groups operate throughout the region, rape is grimly normalised, and Dr Mukwege and his staff at The Panzi Hospital have now helped care for more than fifty thousand survivors of sexual violence. Dr Mukwege received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his efforts to end the use of rape as a weapon of war. One aspect of his practice is a mobile clinic, falling under the umbrella of his ‘Panzi Foundation’, which sends psychologists and doctors out to remote areas in response to calls for help from local clinics who have received women so badly violated, their life depends on immediate treatment. Mukwege's staff often have to drive for a full day, then walk for a day more, to reach survivors these women.
  • Amelie (not her real name) photographed with her daughter, is a survivor of gender-based violence and has been supported by the Kananga-based charity FMMDI (Femmes Main dans les main pour le Developpement Intégral)
  • Jordan. UNHCR high profile supporter Liza Koshy pauses to take in the view of Amman as she approaches the home of Umm Muhammad, 39, a refugee from Syria, in Jabal Al-Nuzha, Amman.
  • Over 660,000 Syrian refugees still live in Jordan, 12 years since Syria’s civil war began; many have now settled in the capital, Amman
  • Dania: a voracious reader, devoted mother, and refugee from Syria currently living in Amman, Jordan. Her favourite book is the Great Gatsby; one day, she plans to write a novel based on her own life.
  • View from the apartment of Dania Mohammad Al-Asaad, 27, a Syrian refugee living in Hashemi Shamali, Amman, Jordan.
  • Like many refugees in Jordan, Dania lives in rented accommodation in the capital, which is financially challenging but feels more like home to Dania than remaining in a refugee camp, twelve years after arriving
  • The sky over Amman
  • Umm Muhammad, who fled to Jordan with her children ten years ago, and still keeps the key to her home in Syria in the hope that one day she’ll return
  • Liza Koshy at the home of Umm Muhammad, a refugee from Syria, in Amman, Jordan and her daughter Noor at their apartment in Amman
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador James Nesbitt visits a home for mentally and physically disabled children, abandoned by their parents. Tbilisi, Georgia
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador James Nesbitt visits a home for mentally and physically disabled children, abandoned by their parents. Tbilisi, Georgia
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador James Nesbitt visits a home for mentally and physically disabled children, abandoned by their parents. Tbilisi, Georgia
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador James Nesbitt visits a home for mentally and physically disabled children, abandoned by their parents. Tbilisi, Georgia
  • Children at home near Gori, Georgia, during a visit with UNICEF Ambassador James Nesbitt
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor in Malawi
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor in Malawi, seeing Unicef's work with AIDS orphans
  • ‘Child headed households’ are common in Malawi, due to the prevalence of HIV / AIDS
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor in Malawi, seeing Unicef's work with AIDS orphans
  • UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ewan McGregor in Malawi, seeing Unicef's work with AIDS orphans
UNHCR + UNICEF