When 13-year-old Yasser from Syria enrolled in the International Rescue Committee’s psychosocial support programme, he rediscovered his love for art and for playing the buzuq, a string instrument similar to a lute.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is extremely concerned about escalating tensions and hostilities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, where many refugees, displaced families, and local communities are reeling from a year of multiple humanitarian disasters.

Engaging girls is important – to reduce their exposure to harm and to expand the vital role they can play in shaping their own lives and communities. This is the reason the International Rescue Committee brings together groups of girls to explore their power and potential and cultivate essential skills.

Only days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed a swath of the Gulf Coast in August 2005, the International Rescue Committee dispatched an emergency team of relief experts to Louisiana. For the first time in its 73-year history, the organization responded to a humanitarian crisis in the United States. 

The International Rescue Committee is preparing to open a reception center in northern Lesbos, often the first stop for thousands of exhausted refugees seeking safety in Europe. Built along the island’s coast, the site – “Windy Ridge” – is just steps from the beach where thousands of refugees from warring countries arrived this year. 

Over 5 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, searching for safety in neighbouring countries and in Europe. As crisis continues, the International Rescue Committee is working inside Syria, across the region and in Europe to support those people to live a life worth living. Here are the stories of Syrians who work for the IRC.