Akeel’s art mixes darkness and light to reflect the struggle and hope of the refugee experience. But there is more. As Akeel puts it, he wants his art to communicate that “the Iraqi people love peace, art, and liberty, not war.”

The IRC in Sacramento’s New Roots program has had a busy 12 months since last spring.

On March 26, GenR Bay Area members volunteered to chaperone a group of refugees, mostly youth, youth to the California Academy of Sciences.

The IRC in Modesto and Turlock offers one-on-one and group training to prepare clients for entry-level cashier positions in the local job market. 

Twenty Airbnb volunteers learned about the plight and resilience of refugees, and how the IRC and New Roots support them to build a new home in the United States.

Each year the IRC in San Diego resettles approximately 1,000 refugees with the majority coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia in recent years. By September 30, we expect as many as 500 individuals, mostly Syrian, to reach their new homes in San Diego.

Until last year, Line had spent almost her entire life in a refugee camp. 

At this year’s International Documentary Film Series, we were joined by two special guest speakers from the IRC in San Diego’s Peacemakers program who shared their thoughts and reactions to the film “This is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees." One of our speakers, Hind Osman, shared her story of coming to the U.S. as a refugee when she was a child.