May 7, 2020

By Julie Gersten

Four years ago, Refugee Action Fund launched in response to the growing refugee crisis as we witnessed millions of people fleeing for their lives. As the news cycle continued to churn out photographs and video footage of people traveling on boat and on foot with no safe place to go, we decided we had to act. Our goal was to mobilize our networks and raise money to support organizations providing safety and restoring humanity to people who were fleeing for survival.

Today, we find ourselves in the midst of the same crisis—the number of displaced people in our world continues to increase and governments continue to shut their doors—but with another crisis of great magnitude layered on top of it. Right now, millions of refugees are highly vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19—subject to intense poverty, unstable and overcrowded housing, lack of access to medical treatment, persecution and violence. And, as countries close their borders to all but essential travel, refugees—whose travel is so essential because they are fleeing for their lives— are finding themselves trapped in impossible circumstances.

December 11, 2018

Eighteen-year-old Syrian refugee Naji Aldabaan became the man of the house at the age of 10 after his father was imprisoned and tortured by the Syrian military for 40 days. During that time, Naji left his house only to buy bread for his family. He watched a woman get shot and killed before his eyes. As bombs fell in his neighborhood, Naji’s family walked for hours in the cold night to seek refuge in Jordan.