Jean Marie Ishimwe is a 23-year-old youth advocate in Nairobi, Kenya. He is also a refugee from Rwanda. Today, he is using his coordination and motivational skills to mobilize young people to hand out food, masks and information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join our call to make world leaders accountable for real change for refugees. One year ago, heartbreaking photographs of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi stranded on a Turkish beach brought the world’s attention to the largest migration of people fleeing conflict since World War II. Alan Kurdi’s name still resonates with all of us. The sense of loss and compassion we felt at his death was real. But the politics is stuck.

In November 2019, Tecle Gebremicheal became the first refugee from Africa to run for local office in Boise, Idaho. “When I first came to America, I promised myself that I will do everything I can to give back to the country and community that welcomed me,” he says. “I want to show that when refugees come here, we try to integrate and contribute however we can.”

IRC Voice and Deadpool star Morena Baccarin recently met resilient refugee mothers during her trip with the IRC to Colombia, where more than one million Venezuelans have sought safety and stability. "If I pay the rent, I can't buy food," one of the women told her. Update: Read Morena's Jan. 24 opinion piece in Newsweek describing the humanitarian situation she witnessed in Colombia and what can be done to help.