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Archive

We share stories to move people to act. Explore our stories archive using the filters below, then learn how you can help.

LRSFSM59
Afghanistan

The Taliban Kidnapped Our Daughter

We had an 8-year-old daughter, which the Taliban came and kidnapped from in front of our house.
Dr  Abdul Nasser Kaadan Cu Copy
Syria

Abdul Nasser

Dr. Abdul Nasser Kaadan, of Aleppo Syria, is a highly regarded physician and scholar. But his honors, credentials, and vital work could not keep him safe in his home country.
Baratt
Afghanistan

BARAAT

My name is Baraat and I am here in this camp with my wife and three kids. We left our country seeking a better place, and not as the helpless refugees we are now.
James Portrait Copy
Afghanistan

James

James has survived two bombings, a stabbing, the murder of his small son and gunmen opening fire at his front door. He and his wife and two surviving children hope to find peace and security in Europe. They have been in camps in Greece since April, 2016.
Zarrin drawing by Elizabeth Benson Thayer
Zarrin  ·  Afghanistan

The Journey: The Sea Was Like a Storm

I don't want to ever go back to the sea.
Ahmed Story Update
Afghanistan

Ahmed

Ahmed was shot twice by police as he crossed borders with his children.
Unfamiliar Wm
United States

Familiar Faces

Ellin met some local refugees at a gathering in August 2016, and now helps them practice English weekly at their family home.
Unaccompanied Wm

Unaccompanied Minors

In 2015, 10,000 vulnerable minors disappeared in the overwhelming immensity of the refugee humanitarian crisis.
Mama Bear Wm
United States

Mama Bear

Lisa Campbell, Director of Operations for NPO "Do Your Part," doesn't run a charity, she runs a small self-governing, self-reliant community.
Life Vests Desk

Life Vests

"I am struck by what it must have represented to the man, woman, or child who wrapped themselves in these life vests and pushed off from their home continent."
Musa Crop 2
Afghanistan

Musa

"I got attacked two times. The first attack was normal. A rocket just came and went in one window and came out another. Then I was leaving one province and going to another province, I got attacked there by an RPG."
Ghazal Full Cropped
Afghanistan

Ghazal

Ghazal wishes she could go to school, but now spends her time staying fit and sharing the one bicycle with the other kids in her camp.
Omed Chess Wm
Afghanistan

Omed

Omed was beat up and picked on because he is from a tribe discriminated against by terrorists, and because his sister works and his mother was a teacher.
Goats
United States

East African Goat Project

​The East African Refugee Goat Project, which leases goats to large companies for an eco-friendly form of weed control, creates jobs for refugees who help tend the goats.
Aeham Smiling
Aeham  ·  Syria

Our Lives Before: The Piano Man of Yarmouk

His musical notoriety brought condemnation from ISIS, which banned western music. So they torched his piano.
Running Water Orig

Running Water

For most, running water was a common convenience that was taken for granted.
Asylum Drawing
Germany

Asylum

These people have all waited and worried and waited for 12 months or more for this day.
Rasheeda Kneeling
Afghanistan

Rasheeda

Rasheeda kneeled despite physical pain caused by her exodus from Afghanistan.
Firuzeh Closer
Afghanistan

Firuzeh

Not concerned with what is the latest in popularity or any rite of passage, Firuzeh simply searched for shoes that fit.
Jalil Head Shot
Afghanistan

Jalil

Jalil was 23 years old he drowned last month in Greece
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281 - 300 of 307 stories
What would you do if you had to leave everything behind?

By the end of 2024, more than 123.2 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to war, persecution, or human rights abuses.

An increase of 7.2 million over 2023, that’s more than 19,619 people every day — roughly one person every 4.4 seconds.

They arrive in refugee camps and other countries, like the US, seeking the one thing they’ve lost: safety.

Fleeing political imprisonment, ethnic violence, religious persecution, gang threats, or war crimes, they come with what little they managed to carry:

Legal papers – if they’re lucky.

A single backpack.

Sometimes a child’s hand in theirs.

They also carry the weight of what they left behind: fractured families, homes they’ll never return to, professions they loved, friends and relatives they may never see again.

They carry loss most of us can’t imagine – but also the truth of what they’ve endured.

At TSOS, we believe stories are a form of justice. When someone shares their experience of forced displacement, they reclaim their voice. And when we amplify that voice – through film, photography, writing, and advocacy – the world listens. Hearts soften. Communities open. Policy begins to shift.

That shift matters. Because when neighbors understand instead of fear…

when lawmakers see people, not politics…

when a teacher knows what her student has survived…

Rebuilding life from the ashes becomes possible.

We’re fighting an uphill battle. In today’s political climate, refugee stories are often twisted or ignored. They’re reduced to statistics, portrayed as national threats, or used to score political points.

The truth – the human, nuanced truth – gets lost, and when it does, we lose compassion.

We are here to share their truth anyway.

At TSOS, we don’t answer to headlines or algorithms. We are guided by a simple conviction: every person deserves to be seen, heard, and welcomed.

Our work is powered by the people we meet — refugees and asylum seekers rebuilding after loss, allies offering sanctuary, and communities daring to extend belonging.

Your support helps us share their stories — and ensure they’re heard where they matter most.

“What ultimately persuaded the judge wasn’t a legal argument. It was her story.”

— Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director, TSOS


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