Syrian refugee Tamam Al Sharaa and his family now live in an apartment in North Dallas, Texas. The IRC defended the family’s right to resettle in Texas and helped them obtain housing and work in their new neighborhood.

A Congolese refugee, Kazingufu Rananzani admits that he never expected an American wanting to help him and his family start over and rebuild a new life in Baltimore.

“When you start doing anything, at first it’s going to be frightening,” Bothina Matar reassures the refugee women she works with in Dallas. She encourages them to strive for a better future—their children’s future—without forgetting their past. “I am trying my best,” Bothina tells them, “and succeeding somehow.”

The only option Burmese refugees Tin Win and Bar Mee had to give their two young daughters a better future was to resettle in a third country – a chance they received from the United States.

A Yazidi family from Iraq, one of the many ethnic minorities persecuted by ISIS, was preparing for a joyful reunion in the land of the free when things changed. Here is their story.