Background

The world is facing the largest Refugee crisis since World War II - UNICEF

According to the Refugee Council, statistics say there are around 60 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homeland. If all these people were combined into a single nation, it would be the 24th largest country in the world.

In countries like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia, millions of families have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution, conflict and poverty. These refugees, many of whom are children (some with parents and some without), are received with open arms in some countries and a closed door in others. They are too often caught in the middle of political negotiations and remain in a sort of stateless and homeless limbo. Not only this, threats like abuse and exploitation await women and undocumented individuals, even as they find homes in new places. 

We wanted to depict this entanglement refugees face as they leave behind homes and take flight to an unknown future. 

And as they do ...

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from Syria take boats to cross the Mediterranean. 

A Syrian refugee from Aleppo holds his one month old daughter moments after arriving on a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 3, 2015 - Reuters.

News of over-sized boats capsizing have flooded the media with stories of horror and shock. In a widely circulated tweet, MSF Sea organization assisting refugees crossing the Mediterranean said: 

"2016, the Mediterranean is a mass grave." 

- widely circulated Tweet by MSF Sea organization assisting refugees crossing the Mediterranean

Some made it to the shores of their new homes...
...many did not.

The photo that silenced the world:

The hashtag "#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik" ("Humanity washed ashore") made it to Twitter's top world trending topics after the image was widely shared. This picture became the symbol of the tragedy of refugees. 

"If this extraordinarily powerful image of a child washed up ashore doesn't change Europe's attitude towards Refugee crisis, then what will?" - The Independent.

There are more heart-wrenching stories than can be shared in this document. This one cannot go without mention. The story of a 5 year old innocent child wiping rubble and blood off his face talks of the horror of another Syrian city, Aleppo...

... to which a 6 year old American boy's heart-warming response showed the world what can be done.