As 2022 comes to an end we look back to a year which has witnessed displacement on a large scale and ongoing conflicts that continue to create significant refugee populations.
With your continuous support we successfully launched several projects throughout this year in different parts of the world. We expanded our ongoing campaigns that have supported Syrian refugees in Jordan. We offered education to hundreds of Afghan refugees and internally displaced girls and boys in Pakistan. We helped and empowered Ukrainian refugee children, women, and elderly who have been seeking refuge in Romania. In 2022 we also documented hundreds of stories of hope, courage, and resilience of those who were forced to leave their homes and hopes, their families and memories behind in search for a new, safe home.
In January, in support of girls’ education, we fully sponsored a school on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, ensuring over more than a 100 Afghan refugee girls and boys receive their right to education. Since December 2021 our team has been on the ground in Pakistan and equipping our school “Encourage” with all the necessary items and furniture. We hired four teachers from the community and provided all the children with a school bag containing a curriculum, notebooks, pencils, and everything they need for the school year ahead.
In March, our team traveled to the Romanian-Ukrainian border to help and support Ukrainian refugees “Escaping War”. On March 4, we launched our ongoing campaign “Hand in Hand” along with KEEN Europe by distributing more than 600 pairs of outdoor footwear to women and children fleeing the war in their country. Our team distributed directly at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in Siret, the train station in Suceava, a hotel turned into a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Suceava and at a shelter hosting hundreds of Ukrainian children, women, and the elderly on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania.
Also in March, as part of our ongoing campaign “Hand in Hand”, our team in Bucharest brought “A Smile”, cookies and macarons to the young ones temporarily residing with their families in a shelter for Ukrainian refugees on the outskirts of the Romanian capital.
We handed out hundreds of sandals, shoes, shorts, t-shirts and exploration kits from KEEN Europe and Chrome Industries to Syrian refugee families residing in a tented settlement on the outskirts of the Jordanian city of Mafraq near the Syrian border. The campaign was launched in a collaboration with the Princess Alia Foundation.
Also in June, as the Afghan refugee girls and boys in our school “Encourage” successfully completed their school year, to motivate them we awarded them with a trophy during a graduation ceremony to “Encourage, Educate and Empower” them for the coming year.
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, marked annually on June 20, Muhammed Muheisen, the founder of Everyday Refugees Foundation, took over the Instagram feed of National Geographic sharing images and the stories behind the scenes with over 249 million followers, showing the daily life and challenges refugees face. Muhammed Muheisen was also featured by Global Citizen on World Refugee Day depicting refugees’ stories, reaching a global audience and spreading awareness to millions of people in different parts of the world.
In August, led by Muhammed Muheisen, and in a partnership with Canon, we launched the Young People Programme in Jordan to “Inspire, Educate and Empower” youth. Through the programme we introduced a group of 15 Jordanians and 15 refugees to the power of creative visual storytelling and critical thinking aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In September, to celebrate the achievements of the 30 students from the “Young People Programme” in Jordan, we organized a ceremony in which H.R.H Princess Alia bint Al Hussein and Muhammed Muheisen presented each student with a certificate of completion.
In November, our team headed back to Romania and launched an ongoing campaign “Together We Can” in a partnership with our long-term supporter KEEN to help and empower Ukrainian refugees in the country.
In a school dorm turned shelter in the Romanian capital, our mission was to make a more comfortable temporary home for the around 250 Ukrainian children, women and the elderly residing there by providing them with all the items they need in their daily life.
Also in November, at our school “Encourage” on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, we welcomed another 34 young Afghan refugee girls to the first grade of their school year. Education is a pillar of our mission and the key to ensuring a better future full of possibilities for each child.
During our ongoing campaign “Together We Can”, initiated to help and empower Ukrainian refugees living in a shelter in the Romanian capital, we worked to ease some of the children’s stress by renovating, furnishing, and equipping a common room. “Room for Hope” is now a safe and welcoming space for all 67 girls and boys residing in the shelter.
Also in December, we completed the first phase of “Together We Can” to help and empower Ukrainian refugees in Romania. We invited all children and mothers in the shelter in Bucharest to “Room for Hope” to celebrate the beginning of the Holiday Season with traditional festive bread, cookies, macarons, juice packs and music.
In 2022 we shared our mission and vision via international media outlets, organizations, lectures, interviews and exhibitions including, among others, Observador, Publico, Sapo, Move Aveiro, KEEN, Humans in the EU, Global Citizen, Canon, Canon Europe, AA, Jordan Times, Re-How, PRTimes, JIJI, ProperMag, PauseMag, Sulinformacao, Gezginfoto, MENAnewswire.
We also presented our mission and vision in talks at Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah, UAE, during the Kayapinar Photo Days in Diyarbakir, Turkey, and at Grain Wedding Photography Festival in Zagreb, Croatia and regularly on the National Geographic Instagram feed.
Through photo exhibitions showcasing the work of the founder of Everyday Refugees Foundation, Muhammed Muheisen, we shed light on the daily life and challenges refugees and internally displaced people face in different parts of the world. Among others, the exhibitions included “Life and War” in Sharjah, UAE, “Voices” in Porto, Valongo and Loulé in Portugal and “Lest we Forget” in Hokuto City and Hagi City, Japan.
Through our social media platforms, we told hundreds of untold stories, we raised the voices of thousands of unheard individuals and we spread awareness to millions of people around the world. We did document, educate, help, and empower.
We are very thankful to all of you for your continues support!
A special thanks to KEEN, Chrome Industries, Princess Alia Foundation, Anna Rosa Skincare and CarVeto for their support.
