Jean Marie Ishimwe is a 23-year-old youth advocate in Nairobi, Kenya. He is also a refugee from Rwanda. Today, he is using his coordination and motivational skills to mobilize young people to hand out food, masks and information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Edna Patricia Gomez is a gynecologist who works for the International Rescue Committee in Cúcuta, Colombia. She left Venezuela in 2018 with her family as the country spiraled into a profound socio-economic crisis. Today, Dr. Edna helps other Venezuelans in Colombia with screening and treatment for the coronavirus, while also providing women's health services. "Medicine is the best," she says of her profession. "It’s hopeful.

Rania Abou is a 19-year-old refugee from Syria living in Roselle, New Jersey. An artist who dreams of becoming an engineer, she is currently working for the International Rescue Committee and World Central Kitchen in Elizabeth, New Jersey, helping give out food to people in need. “In the future, somebody will help me. It's like a circle.

Twenty-four-year-old Doha Ibrahim Ammouri, a refugee from Syria, lives in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan with her husband and children. She volunteers as a receptionist in the International Rescue Committee’s reproductive health clinic in the camp. Despite a national coronavirus lockdown in Jordan, Doha and her colleagues continue to provide essential medical care—safely.

Twenty-one-year-old Yasmin Ara is a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar living in Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee camp. As a community volunteer for the International Rescue Committee, she goes door-to-door to raise awareness about protection from the coronavirus. “Rohingya people help others as much as possible,” she says. Learn more about the essential contributions of refugees like Yasmin—during COVID-19 and beyond. 

Anxhela is a refugee from Albania and, as a junior doctor with the UK's National Health Service, is one of the thousands of refugee essential workers helping respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. "When I tell people I came to this country as a refugee," she says, "I now say it quite proudly." Read more about the contributions of refugees like Dr. Anxhela—during COVID-19 and beyond.  

Ambassador Samantha Power reflects upon being honored with the 2020 International Rescue Committee (IRC) Freedom Award. Read more about Ambassador Power and the IRC's Rescue Dinner 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRC has been able to deliver school supplies to families and continue serving refugee students in our Ready to Read after-school program in Seattle. IRC tutors meet with students in an online classroom, assigning them books to read that correspond with their current reading level. Students who do not have computer or internet access receive printed copies of the same books.

IRC spokesperson and actor Zeeko Zaki caught up with IRC staff member and fellow Egyptian, Dina Elshenawy, to learn more about her work in IRC's partnership with World Central Kitchen. She has been helping provide food to vulnerable people in New York City, including refugees and at-risk families, since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

The IRC and World Central Kitchen, founded by Chef José Andrés, are working together to combat food insecurity in communities hardest hit by COVID-19 and its economic effects.