Today, as South Sudan marks the anniversary of its independence, the new nation is engulfed by a growing humanitarian crisis. Hopes for a peaceful future expressed four years ago are now dashed. Thousands of people have been killed, and more than two million uprooted from their homes by civil war. Unspeakable atrocities have been committed by all parties to the conflict.

Fresh from filming the latest season of Showtime’s Homeland,actor and activist Mandy Patinkin traveled to Uganda this month with the International Rescue Committee to see what happens when refugees are given welcome. Along with his wife Kathryn and son Isaac he met resilient, resourceful people who are restarting their lives in a country that has made a choice to build bridges, not walls.

Even from a young age Kaniz Fatema has been determined to help people. Today she is an IRC midwife in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Learn how the IRC has been on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, supporting people whose lives have been disrupted by the conflict.

Fariba fled from Afghanistan when she was a child, now she's using her design-skills to start her own business in Athens.