World Refugee Day 2023 – Helping refugee women and children to dream again

Since 2001, World Refugee Day has been marked on 20th June each year, to celebrate the courage of the many across the world who have been forced to flee warfare, disaster, poverty and persecution in their homelands. As an organisation, we are proud to be able to stand with and walk alongside hundreds of refugee men, women and children across the Middle East and North Africa through a number of our media and community-based projects.

Life in the Desert is one of our most well-known and influential projects serving refugees. But today, we want to share a little bit more about our combined Blossoms and DreamMaker programme which is giving Sudanese, Somali and Yemeni refugee women and their children in North Africa the chance to hope and dream again.

Blossoms interactive workshops bring refugee and local women together in a safe space, and through art and drama, help them to explore their emotions and find healthy ways of managing their daily external and internal struggles and present environment. As refugees are often met with horrific racial abuse and discrimination, by bringing the two groups together, barriers and stereotypes are broken down. Refugee women begin to feel more integrated, making new friendships with both locals and those with similar backgrounds to them. Local women also realise how they have much more in common with the non-natives than they previously thought, and are equally blessed by the programme. Women share their hurts and their hopes, learn new ways of coping, and lean on the support of one another.

“I found out that my only way to get rid of negative feelings is by expressing them. I was up in the air, uncertain, indetermined, easily stressed out. Now, I am able to face what pressures me and say “No”.” – Hajra*

“As a Sudanese woman refugee, I face much more pressure and bullying than the nationals. I am worn out all the time, trying to secure even a moderate life for me and my kids. Therefore, it was important for me to learn how to face these challenges.” – Mary*

Our DreamMaker workshops have always previously run separately to Blossoms. However, after recognising that a lack of childcare was preventing many keen women from attending a course, our team saw a wonderful opportunity to run both programmes in parallel. DreamMaker is a series of creative workshops for children aged 11-15, which helps them to identify their passions, abilities and emotions, and to express and pursue these in constructive and positive ways. They are empowered as they learn effective ways of communicating their needs and ambitions, how to confidently face challenges and set-backs, and through tailored activities, make realistic goals to help them realise their potential.

Marrying the two projects has been a wonderful opportunity to serve the women and children of both the refugee and local children together, promoting integration, acceptance and community – as well as giving hope to individuals and families.

The North Africa team are currently running one of these parallel programmes for 20 women, and funding permitting, two more courses will run this year. Please keep praying for this initiative, and for the thousands of precious refugee lives in need across the Middle East and North Africa region. The Lord knows them all.

“The expression of gratitude activity helped me tremendously. In addition, my daughter who attended DreamMaker workshop has also helped me a lot by sharing with me what she has learnt, especially the part about setting one’s goal in life. I am grateful to her and to you.”  – Leila*

“My son used to be a lonely boy who does not believe in himself much, especially as he hasn’t got any friends. Now, he started to believe in himself more and build new relationships. I was overjoyed because he started to apply what he learnt. Moreover, before the workshop, my son used to stutter a bit but over the course of the programme, he joined in a rehearsal of a play and he performed wonderfully. I am so grateful for the workshops he attended. One last thing, instead of having him dream of unrealistic dreams, he started to collect information about cars, preparing himself to learn to drive in the future.” – Samara*

*names of participants have been changed for security reasons