View from the apartment of Dania Mohammad Al-Asaad, 27, a Syrian refugee living in Hashemi Shamali, Amman, Jordan.
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, returns to her home in a transitional settlement in Kalehe, South Kivu, with her grandmother, who she lives with along with her husband, six children and seven siblings. Cadette, and all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their own houses with cash assistance. One of the many difficult choices Cadette has to make is between food and patching up her house. She has chosen food.
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, returns to her home in a transitional settlement in Kalehe with her grandmother, after receiving NFIs, (non-food items) from a UNHCR distribution. Cadette lives in this site, in a small house with two rooms, with her six children, her grandmother (left) and her seven siblings, who she also looks after (she lost her parents a long time ago). Cadette, along with all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their ow
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, at home in a transitional settlement site. Cadette lives here in a small house with two rooms, with her six children, her grandmother, and her seven siblings, who she also looks after (she lost her parents a long time ago). Cadette, along with all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their own houses with cash assistance. One of the many difficult choices Cadette has to make is between food and patching up her house. She has chosen food.
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, outside her home in a transitional settlement site. Cadette lives here in a small house with two rooms, with her six children, her grandmother, and her seven siblings, who she also looks after (she lost her parents a long time ago). Cadette, along with all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their own houses with cash assistance. One of the many difficult choices Cadette has to make is between food and patching up her house. She has chosen food.
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, at home in a transitional settlement site. Cadette lives here in a small house with two rooms, with her six children, her grandmother, and her seven siblings, who she also looks after (she lost her parents a long time ago). Cadette, along with all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their own houses with cash assistance. One of the many difficult choices Cadette has to make is between food and patching up her house. She has chosen food.
Kalehe, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, in the plot of land where she grows vegetables by her home in a resettlement site in Kalehe. Cadette lives here in a small house with two rooms with her six children, her grandmother, and her seven siblings who she looks after too. She lost her parents a long time ago. Cadette, along with all the residents of this site, is here because their village, Rambira, a four hour walk away, flooded when the nearby river burst its banks in 2014. Its residents took shelter in a plantation called Bulera for two years, but they had no means to support themselves, no roof over their heads and very poor living conditions. In 2019, UNHCR negotiated with local authorities for the purchase of land in Kalehe for them to move to, and brought in an engineer to build the first foundation of a shelter. The families continued to build their own houses with cash assistance. One of the many difficult choices Cadette has to make is between food and patching up her house. She has chosen food.
People boarding a boat to cross the river close to Tshilenge, a temporary settlement camp near Kananga, Kasai-Central Province
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kananga, Kasai-Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw visits Tshilenge, a temporary settlement site near Kananga, and meets Veronique Bundu just as she receives the keys to her newly built home, durable enough to last thirty years. Veronique was identified as a particularly vulnerable case, and therefore front of the queue to be resettled. She, like many of the beneficiaries, fled to neighbouring Angola in 2017 during a period of conflict.
Walungu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Details in the ‘safe space’ / counselling room at Walungu Health Centre, which is dedicated to the psychosocial care of survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) as well as victims of other protection incidents in Walungu. The clinic comes under the banner of the Panzi Foundation and is supported by UNHCR.
Community based health workers identify cases in the community and refer them to the centre. When these cases arrive at the centre, an immediate evaluation of their needs takes place, then staff offer four services: medical care (often taking patients to Mulamba hospital: a one-stop health centre also supported by Doctor Mukwege), psychosocial care, socio-economic support and legal advice.
Walungu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A rape survivor is assessed soon after arriving at Walungu Health Centre, which is dedicated to the psychosocial care of survivors gender-based violence (GBV) as well as victims of other protection incidents in Walungu. The clinic comes under the banner of the Panzi Foundation and is supported by UNHCR.
Community based health workers identify cases in the community and refer them to the centre. When these cases arrive at the centre, an immediate evaluation of their needs takes place, then staff offer four services: medical care (often taking patients to Mulamba hospital: a one-stop health centre also supported by Doctor Mukwege), psychosocial care, socio-economic support and legal advice.
Underfunding means that survivors of GBV will have to choose between justice or a safe space to heal.
Amelie (not her real name) photographed with her daughter, is a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV) and has been supported by the Kananga-based charity FMMDI (Femmes Main dans les main pour le Developpement Intégral).
Extracts from Amelie’s interview:
“I’m at the teaching University in Kananga, I am studying to teach nutrition. I wanted to study nutrition because over time people are going to be looking for nutritionists. I looked at our country and at our Province and there weren’t many nutritionists, that’s why
If I remember correctly, one night in 2020, a group of bandits came to the plot of land in Etanganza where I lived with all my family. I was kidnapped, they bound my eyes, my mouth – I couldn’t see, I didn’t know where I was. All I knew was I was in a vehicle: a 4×4 – I could feel the movement. But I was blindfolded, I couldn’t tell who I was with. We left and travelled a distance, eventually we arrived somewhere and there five young men, I was locked in a house and they left. In the house I realised there were seven young girls, I was the eighth. I was sixteen. Now I’m nineteen.
And then, once we had arrived there [at the house] I spent nearly 2 months and three weeks there, locked in this house. When they [the young men] left to find food, they left with the door locked. When they returned they would open the door. During the two months and three weeks that I did there, I was raped buy these five men from one day to the next.
Apart from that, there was day when the FARDC noticed the house. Because the house was always locked, it was locked at night, locked during the day – it was always locked. They [the five young men] men left early in the morning. They would leave as early as 04.00, only to return by 22.00 or 23.00.
One day they [the five young men] left the house, we [they eight girls] were left in the house and I asked the other girls, ‘How long have you been here?’ they responded, ‘We have counted nearly one
Street scenes in Bukavu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kananga, Kasai-Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw visits Tshilenge, a temporary settlement site near Kananga, and meets Veronique Bundu just as she receives the keys to her newly built home, durable enough to last thirty years. Veronique was identified as a particularly vulnerable case, and therefore front of the queue to be resettled. She, like many of the beneficiaries, fled to neighbouring Angola in 2017 during a period of conflict.
Dania Mohammad Al-Asaad, 27, a Syrian refugee in Hashemi Shamali, Amman, Jordan. Originally from Daraa, Dania came to Jordan 2013 with her parents and sister. She got married in 2019 and has a 1.6-year-old son, Jude. The family home in Syria was partially destroyed. Dania had volunteered with Jordan River Foundation with UNHCR. She received a DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship and studied English Literature while in Jordan. She loves to read, and her favourite book is the Great Gatsby. She hopes to write a book based on her life one day.
Amelie (not her real name) photographed with her daughter, is a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV) and has been supported by the Kananga-based charity FMMDI (Femmes Main dans les main pour le Developpement Intégral).
FMMDI was founded by Nathalie Kambala in 2012. During her university studies, Nathalie’s family received a marriage dowry from a man living in Canada, but her husband returned to Canada after the wedding, leaving her in the DRC. Three years later, she learned he was also married to a woman in Rwanda. This experience led her to establish FMMDI in the Kasai-Central Province in 2012 (she had by then qualified as a lawyer) to protect women’s rights, women’s empowerment, and battle against gender-based violence.
FMMDI is one of UNHCR’s operational partners in Kasai-Central. It strives for socio-economic reintegration through vocational training, and academic training via UNHCR’s partner universities in Kananga; it provides safe spaces for women to, and its founder Nathalie Kambala is also campaigning traditional chiefs to sign a commitment act, to abolish degrading practices against women (in this area of DRC, if a woman is raped, traditionally she is accused of adultery and shamed), which has allowed the reunification of 200 households.
Amelie (not her real name) photographed with her daughter, is a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV) and has been supported by the Kananga-based charity FMMDI (Femmes Main dans les main pour le Developpement Intégral).
FMMDI was founded by Nathalie Kambala in 2012. During her university studies, Nathalie’s family received a marriage dowry from a man living in Canada, but her husband returned to Canada after the wedding, leaving her in the DRC. Three years later, she learned he was also married to a woman in Rwanda. This experience led her to establish FMMDI in the Kasai-Central Province in 2012 (she had by then qualified as a lawyer) to protect women’s rights, women’s empowerment, and battle against gender-based violence.
FMMDI is one of UNHCR’s operational partners in Kasai-Central. It strives for socio-economic reintegration through vocational training, and academic training via UNHCR’s partner universities in Kananga; it provides safe spaces for women to, and its founder Nathalie Kambala is also campaigning traditional chiefs to sign a commitment act, to abolish degrading practices against women (in this area of DRC, if a woman is raped, traditionally she is accused of adultery and shamed), which has allowed the reunification of 200 households.
Umm Muhammad, 39, in her apartment in Jabal Al-Nuzha, Amman. Umm Muhammad and her family are refugees from Homs, Syria. She has two sons, Majed, 19, and Radwan, 15, and two daughters, Noor, 17 and Radir, who is now married. Umm Muhammad’s husband died suddenly in a traffic accident in Syria in 2008; the family fled from Syria to Jordan in 2013. Umm Muhammad keeps the house key to her home in Syria that her husband bought for her, with the hope that one day they will return home. She still has two brothers in Syria and her father lives in Jordan. She cooks and sells food from home to people upon orders. The family stopped receiving cash assistance from UNHCR a year ago, once Majed turned 18; however, they received winter assistance in November/December 2022, which was used to back-pay rent. The family are still in debt for rent.
UNHCR high profile supporter Liza Koshy meets Dania Mohammad Al-Asaad, 27, in Hashemi Shamali, Amman, Jordan. Originally from Daraa, Dania came to Jordan 2013 with her parents and sister. She got married in 2019 and has a 1.6-year-old son, Jude. The family home in Syria was partially destroyed. Dania had volunteered with Jordan River Foundation with UNHCR. She received a DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship and studied English Literature while in Jordan. She loves to read, and her favourite book is the Great Gatsby. She hopes to write a book based on her life one day.
The kitchen of Dania Mohammad Al-Asaad, 27, a Syrian refugee in Hashemi Shamali, Amman, Jordan. Originally from Daraa, Dania came to Jordan 2013 with her parents and sister. She got married in 2019 and has a 1.6-year-old son, Jude. The family home in Syria was partially destroyed. Dania had volunteered with Jordan River Foundation with UNHCR. She received a DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship and studied English Literature while in Jordan. She loves to read, and her favourite book is the Great Gatsby. She hopes to write a book based on her life one day.
The sky over Amman, Jordan.
The sky over Amman, Jordan.
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.
UNHCR high profile supporter Liza Koshy meets Umm Muhammad, 39, and her daughter Noor, 17, in their apartment in Jabal Al-Nuzha, Amman. Umm Muhammad and her family are refugees from Homs, Syria. She has two sons, Majed, 19, and Radwan, 15, and two daughters, Noor, 17 and Radir, who is now married. Umm Muhammad’s husband died suddenly in a traffic accident in Syria in 2008; the family fled from Syria to Jordan in 2013.
Umm Muhammad keeps the house key to her home in Syria that her husband bought for her, with the hope that one day they will return home. She still has two brothers in Syria and her father lives in Jordan. She cooks and sells food from home to people upon orders. The family stopped receiving cash assistance from UNHCR a year ago, once Majed turned 18; however, they received winter assistance in November/December 2022, which was used to back-pay rent. The family are still in debt for rent. Noor is in school and loves to spend time with her friends but often can’t afford to go out and meet them. She loves interior design and hopes to study it in the future.
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.
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.
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.
A young 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.
A young 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.
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.
