READ OUR OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE DETENTION OF REFUGEES AND ONGOING COMMUNITY VIOLENCE
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH DISPLACEMENT, RESETTLEMENT, DEPORTATION, AND ICE #ANONYMOUSAMONGUS

Syria

IMG 2762
Yasmin  ·  Syria

Healthcare as a Refugee

Dialysis in a Tent City
Potato Fields
Mothers Running With Families  ·  Syria

Arrival: The Potato Fields

"How did they have the courage and strength to run from the bombs, through the cities and the snipers and the rebels and Assad’s army and ISIS to this hopeless barren potato field?"
Amina Children 1
Amina  ·  Syria

Belonging: A Math Teacher and a Mother

I have missed three years of their lives. I will never get them back.
Amina no watermark
Amina  ·  Syria

Leaving Aleppo

Amina is one of countless indomitable refugee mothers in the world
Amina, Syria
Amina  ·  Syria

I Have Missed Three Years of Their Lives

My husband told me to go to Germany with our youngest son because I am a math teacher and can speak English, and because I am strong.
Arif, Syria
Arif - Syria  ·  Syria

Arrival: I Must be Strong for Her

"I like being in school again..."
Sanaz, Syria
Sanaz  ·  Syria

The Journey: We Awoke to Find Planes Bombing Above Us

Our life was very good. We were very comfortable and happy.
Firoz
Syria

They Kept Killing — They Killed so Many

ISIS began invading our village on the first day of the revolution.
Khaldieh
Syria

KHALDIEH

The Boat was Sinking
Firoz Color
Syria

FIROZ

I’m Worried about My Family
Amina Children 1
Syria

My Children's Childhood Has Gone with The War

I came from Syria from the city of Aleppo. I was a math teacher in Aleppo’s high schools.
Hassan From You Tube
Syria

"Are We in Control of Our Destiny?"

Hassan asks: "In times of war, are we in control of our destiny?"
Kamil Painting
Syria

KAMIL

Kamil was born a refugee, as was his father, Akhtar. His Palestinian grandparents fled to Syria in the late 1940’s and raised their family in Yarmouk, a thriving, almost exclusively Palestinian suburb of Damascus.
Ahktar Crying
Syria

AKHTAR

STORY UPDATE: Akhtar is an expert craftsman in marble and granite. His life's work. All gone.
Holding On Full Image
Syria

Holding On

They live in uncertainty, but are remarkably resilient and cheerful in bad conditions. They hold up the best they can, and cling to the most important things - loved ones, faith, and hope.
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.
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.
Hasan Pic
Syria

Hasan & Rushte

Rushte had turned her paper over and drawn what was in her heart and in her head...such a disconnect to the smile on her face!
12
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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