Voices

“I met Hevin and her friend, refugees from Aleppo in Idomeni, Greece. They camped for four days in the fields of Idomeni waiting for a chance to cross the border into Macedonia on their onward journey to Western Europe. I asked them to pose for a portrait and they were hesitant at first because they said they did not look good after sleeping in the fields for so long and wearing the same clothes for days. It took me some time to convince them otherwise. “People will make fun of our unkempt look” – they said. I told them that they were beautiful regardless of the hardships they had to go through. They finally agreed to be photographed and stood up looking back at me in quite defiance. I was amazed at these young women’s strength and perseverance”.

– Rena Effendi
Documentary Photographer.

“Rahima Begum holds her one day old baby inside a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She had been displaced because of rising waters and a changing climate and forced to migrate to the slums of Dhaka. Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, where 28,000 people live per square kilometer in its capital city of Dhaka. The slum has no permanent sanitation and sewage facilities. As the sea level, and the temperature rise, bringing greater and more destructive storms and droughts, there is increasing awareness about climate refugees, whose numbers could far surpass refugees driven by conflict. Currently, however, there are no legal protections for those displaced by climate, and the penalty for inaction on climate change grows only more severe by the year. It will be felt most severely by those who least contribute to global warming”.

– Ami Vitale
National Geographic Photographer, Filmmaker, Speaker and Explorer.

“In a climate change future that already is happening in many parts of the world, animals will too become refugees. When I photographed this polar bear who is clearly starving, I wanted people to imagine what the future will hold for Arctic wildlife, and all wildlife indeed as they lose their habitat to warming conditions around the planet, but especially in the polar regions. Without bold, immediate and visionary action on climate change, scientists predict we will see dramatic losses in polar bear numbers by mid-century. Regardless of what climate deniers might say, there is no denying that as polar wildlife loses its icy home, they too will become refugees, until they have nowhere else to go, at which point, they will likely become extinct”.

– Cristina Mittermeier
Co-founder of SeaLegacy, National Geographic Adventurer, Photographer and Speaker.

“Susan James, 10, holds her clay doll in Bidibidi.In Bidibidi, a remote refugee settlement in Uganda, South Sudanese kids create their own entertainment from mud, paper, and plastic. Here cardboard boxes from shipments of humanitarian supplies get a second chance as toy cars, trucks, and buses. These kids would have been the first generation to grow up in an independent South Sudan, if war hadn’t so quickly dispelled them. Today, more than 1 million children have fled the country, building new lives in refugee camps scattered in Uganda and other neighbors of South Sudan. Even in the most remote places, kids learn how to entertain themselves and for the nearly 200,000 children living in Bidibidi the malleable red dirt provides something to play with”.

– Nora Lorek
Freelance Photographer, co-founder of the Milaya Project, contributor National Geographic.

”Ibrahim holds his youngest son outside a mud hut where he lives with his wife and 11 children. The same camp buried at least two children who died due to the freezing temperatures back in 2012. They are among thousands of displaced in Afghanistan due to war”.

– Andrea Bruce
Photographer, National Geographic Explorer.