This World Refugee Day, the IRC has partnered with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate galleries and the Victoria and Albert Museum to celebrate refugee artists and entrepreneurs—and to show what would be lost without their contributions.

Sediqullah and his brother, Ahmad, are two of the many Afghan individuals new to Salt Lake City, resettled to Utah with support from the IRC in Salt Lake City. Sediqulla shares his story and his hopes for the future.

Amidst the journeys undertaken by numerous asylum seekers across the Americas in pursuit of safety and security, they encounter a significant challenge: the lack of reliable information to alleviate their hardships. Hence, the IRC supports displaced people on their journey by facilitating access to digital platforms where they can encounter information and services they need.

Thank you for your interest in providing in-kind donations to the IRC! Community assistance with early resettlement in the form of donations is an amazing way to immediately impact the lives of newly arrived refugees, and we welcome your help.

One woman became a victim of human trafficking but has since rebuilt her life in the US with help from the IRC.

Modesto Junior College instructor Emma Berdino didn’t have much hope when she learned her ESL class would be forced to go online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Many of her students, all women from Afghanistan recruited by the IRC in Turlock, were too tech-challenged to use a phone app to complete their homework prior to the viral outbreak.   “Most weren’t able to figure it out,” she said. “I thought, oh my goodness, we’re totally going to lose this class, because they’re not going to be able to do it.”  Berdino is grateful to be wrong, as nearly two-thirds of her students continue to take the course remotely after going exclusively online. 

This month Haben, an Eritrean refugee who was resettled by the IRC to Missoula three years ago, tells us abut her experience. When she arrived she spoke only a handful of words in English, but now speaks well enough to be interviewed for this story without interpretation.