Blog

Notre Dame reminds me of the tradition of sanctuary, offering refuge and aid to those in need, especially strangers and foreigners. As heartbreaking as it is to see the destruction of Notre Dame, it has been heartening for me to witness from afar the entire city of Paris gathering in solidarity and pledging to rebuild.

Their Story is Our Story finds out the meaning of “shanti khana” and the importance of women-friendly spaces in Cox's Bazar refugee settlement, Bangladesh.

Their Story is Our Story (TSOS) asks what role we play in photographing and filming vulnerable refugees: is it a moral obligation to tell these stories when refugees themselves cannot, or an amoral exploitation?

This International Women's Day 2019, we focus on Rohingya refugee women and girls living in Cox's Bazar Bangladesh and their human rights taken from them.

Watch an exclusive short video of four of the brave and powerful women whom we met in the camp as they share their stories.

HOPE Field Hospital for Women changes the lives of Rohingya children in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, by providing free surgery to repair cleft lips and palates - an orofacial cleft that causes problems feeding, hearing and speaking, as well as social stigma and rejection.

Christophe Mortier, our Director of Photography and Portraitist of France 2017, has created a series of portraits of Rohingya children we met on the ground during our refugee story gathering trip to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - the largest refugee settlement in the world where more than half of the residents are children.

Their Story is Our Story (TSOS) has come to HOPE Field Hospital for Women, the first 24/7 Bangladeshi-run field hospital operating in Cox's Bazar refugee settlement. Our host HumaniTerra provides training for aspiring local Bangladeshi midwifes at the hospital to not only to empower the locals in an often tense and fraught dynamic, but also to massively reduce the maternal mortality rate.

Their Story is Our Story (TSOS) has safely entered Bangladesh to gather the stories of some of the 725,000 Rohingya refugees who have escaped extreme violence in Myanmar and who now live in Cox's Bazar - the largest refugee settlement in the world where, according to UNHCR, over half of the residents are children.

Their Story is Our Story, a charity in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, run entirely by volunteers, is collaborating with Frankfurt International School for the first event of its kind to help bridge the gap between refugees and established citizens within the local communities of Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Would this mother EVER see her husband again? Her children again? Would this family EVER be reunited? That sinister question mark hooked me like a harpoon to the heart.

Well... I couldn’t have imagined how that story would change.