After losing her husband to the war in South Sudan, social worker Lilian Dawa fled with her two young children to Uganda, where she helps other refugee women as an IRC community volunteer.

Despite hardship and uncertainty, these resilient Syrian refugee mothers are raising confident daughters. Here are some of their stories.

“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.”

Mothers around the world, especially those in crisis zones, struggle to keep their children healthy and safe—sometimes against long odds.