Today a mother will leave the home where her child took his first steps. Today a son will run, not to score the winning goal, but to flee a nefarious force. Today a teenage girl will leave behind her closest friend.
So, today, we pause for World Refugee Day. We remember the 38+ million refugees and internationally displaced persons who have fled their homes due to war, conflict, or persecution. This annual commemoration hosted by the United Nations Refugee Agency takes place in more than 100 countries and serves to bring awareness, solidarity, and support to those displaced.
In 2003, our founders came face-to-face with displacement when they befriended children who left their homes each night to escape the threat of LRA abduction. We learned that beginning in 1996 the government required people of northern Uganda to trade their homes for government-run camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Riddled with disease and violence, 1.7 million people called these camps home at the conflict’s height. Today these camps in northern Uganda have been dismantled, but a generation of Acholi people still feels the aftershock. Because of this, we continue to partner with Ugandans through our recovery programs, designed to restore and celebrate home in Uganda.
If you would like to learn more about the millions who are forcibly displaced around the world and how the UN Refugee Agency is serving them, visit their site HERE.
Think people should hear about this?