What We Achieved in 2023

In January our team headed to our school “Encourage”, which we have been sponsoring since December 2021, on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital to see the progress of the students. We are happy to report that at “Encourage” more than 135 Afghan refugee girls and boys receive their right to education.

One of our memorable projects of 2023 was carried out in February. In “Fairytales from Home” our team collected and brought hundreds of children’s books directly from Ukraine and transported them by road to a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Bucharest, Romania. In the shelter we built and installed a library with the Ukrainian language books for the refugee children and adults to enjoy and maintain a connection to their homeland.

In March we reconnected with a young Ukrainian refugee named Myron Nehoda. In November 2022 during our campaign “Together We Can” we first met Myron while he was sheltering in Bucharest, Romania. In early March 2023 we met Myron again still taking refuge in the same shelter, where our team noticed his talent and passion for football. We had to do something to encourage his passion and determination so we enrolled Myron at the local football club FC Dinamo Bucharesti, where he is pursuing his dream to become a professional footballer, Dreams Come True.

Also in March, our team returned to “Encourage”, our school for Afghan refugee girls and boys on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital. The school continues to grow, requiring more seating and supplies for the children. Our team added more desks and stocked the school with pencils, notebooks, and other academic supplies ensuring the students their right to education. In addition, our team bought and distributed school uniforms for the girls and boys, offering the children a way to feel pride and motivation to learn together as a community.

In March, as the weather in Jordan continued to remain cold, particularly in the evenings, our team returned to the tented settlement on the outskirts of the Jordanian city of Mafraq near the Syrian border. To help the refugee families stay Warm and Healthy we brought care packages consisting of cold weather accessories as well as daily hygiene and health products.

In April, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, our team distributed hundreds of packages of traditional sweets to the residents of the tented settlement on the outskirts of the Jordanian city of Mafraq, where hundreds of Syrian refugee families are taking shelter.

World Refugee Day, designated by the United Nations, is organized every year on June 20 to honor and celebrate the courage of refugees everywhere. This year Muhammed Muheisen, the founder of Everyday Refugees Foundation, shared some of the stories behind his images of the refugee crisis on several National Geographic Instagram accounts, on @NatGeo and @InsideNatGeo reaching hundreds of millions of followers around the world.

In August, with the summer holidays over, our school children returned to “Encourage” on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan to begin their new school year. We visited the students to welcome the new ones and celebrate the progress of the older students, witnessing firsthand their advancement in Urdu, English, and math.

In November we relocated the school “Encourage” on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital welcoming a couple of dozen more Afghan refugee children.

Throughout 2023 we continued to share our mission and vision via international media outlets, organizations, lectures, interviews, and exhibitions including, among others, talks at Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah, UAE as well as an exhibition in the refugee center in Romania. The founder of Everyday Refugees Foundation, Muhammed Muheisen, was interviewed by FOTO Cult an Italian photography online magazine, in which he spoke about his work and the power of photography to tell stories and create positive change in the world. As well, Muheisen was a speaker at National Geographic headquarters during the 2023 Explorers Festival in Washington, DC and served as a jury member for the United Nations SDG Action Awards, honoring changemakers committed to creating a more peaceful sustainable world. As well as articles in National Geographic UK, National Geographic Turkiye. and Rai News Italy.

In December a selection of images by Muheisen were exhibited in Athens, Greece to raise awareness and amplify the voice of the people being photographed.