Close the distance

The people closing the distance

As we mark World Refugee Day, nearly 118 million people around the world are forcibly displaced. For many, distance from safety, from family, from a future, is the defining fact of their lives.

But humanity has the power to close that distance. One voice can turn division into solidarity. One policy can reunite separated families. One welcome can turn strangers into neighbors.

Explore the stories of International Rescue Committee staff and clients who’ve become that one person—each on a different journey, all closing the distance.

“My first day I was nervous. But at the same time I was happy”

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“My first day I was nervous. But at the same time I was happy”

Casey, a refugee living in London, arrived in the UK feeling lost. "I don't have any family or friends in the UK—nobody to support me. There was a point in my life when I felt like giving up." Through intensive one-on-one employability training and well-being support from the IRC, Casey found stable employment and a community. She now hopes to start her own business one day.
“I worry for those children, and wish to help.”

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“I worry for those children, and wish to help.”

“When I see a homeless child, I take them in” explains Fatuma. She currently fosters eight displaced and orphaned children in her remote town of Numbi within the Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed conflict is causing millions to flee their homes. The IRC and local partners have assisted her in getting an official qualification as a carer, as well as providing financial support and supplies.
“What motivated me was humanity”

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“What motivated me was humanity”

Dr Ummi manages the IRC's malnutrition clinics in Maiduguri, Nigeria, helping the many severely malnourished children who arrive at the centres to survive and recover. With the potentially life-threatening prospect of funding cuts hanging over the clinic, she was moved to tears recalling how a generous donor had stepped in to close the gap. “What kept me going... what motivated me was humanity".