In search of a better life: stories of refugees from around the world
June 20 was World Refugee Day. Reuters reporters spoke to several different people who have one thing in common - once they had to leave their native places and go to start a new life away from home. About how life develops for refugees from the world's hot spots - in the photo tape.
(Total 13 photos)
Sinnuyar Baecon
Sinnuyar Baekon, 25, belongs to the Muslim Rohingya people. This people living in Myanmar is recognized by the UN as one of the most persecuted people in the world. Sinnuyar's home was burned down during sectarian clashes that began in the country in June 2012. The girl ended up in a refugee camp near the city of Situe, the capital of Rakhine state.
1. Sinnuyar and her two young twin children. Her husband left her shortly before their birth. Photo: Soe Zeya / Reuters
Rahman Jan Safi
2. Rahman Jan Safi, 24, left his home in Afghanistan in 2007. After a long journey through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy, he ended up in the city of Calais in northern France, where he received a residence permit and got a job in an association called Auberge des Migrants (“Migrant Shelter”). This organization helps migrants who find themselves in Calais with food and clothing. Many of them hope to cross the English Channel and enter the UK. Photo: Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
3. Photo: Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Patrick Manica
Patrick Manika is from a Tutsi family and was born in a refugee camp in Uganda. In 1983, his family had to return to Rwanda, where they settled in the national park, and later moved to the capital. Manyika survived the 1994 genocide by hiding in a football stadium controlled by UN forces. During these events, 800 thousand Tutsis and civilians among the Hutus were killed.
4. Patrick Manika in the library of the University of Redlands in California. Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Manyika was involved in charity work and independently studied several foreign languages, in 2009 he had the opportunity to leave Rwanda and continue his education in the United States.
5. Patrick shows a photograph of himself (on the right), his mother, brother and sister. Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
6. Now Patrick is going to get a second master's degree at the University of Redlands in California. He will study geoinformation technologies. Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Mohammed al-Hassan
7. Syrian Mohammed al-Hassan, 32, left Homs with his wife and four children almost immediately after the outbreak of unrest in the country. Now the family lives in the Palestinian refugee camp "Al Hussein" in the Jordanian capital Amman. Most of their income comes from humanitarian aid. The family hopes to be able to return to Syria after the end of the conflict. Photo: Muhammad Hamed / Reuters
8. Mohammed with the children returns to the camp. Photo: Muhammad Hamed / Reuters
Alain Diabanza
9. 35-year-old Alain Diabanza was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1998-2003, the country was torn apart by a violent conflict. Alain worked as a French teacher and often discussed the political situation in the country with students, but after the school began to receive threats, he decided to leave. In 2002, Alain left the Congo and, after visiting Angola, Senegal and Morocco, ended up in the Spanish semi-enclave Ceuta. He now lives in Malaga, teaches French, and is in a relationship with a social worker, Paula. The couple is expecting a baby. Photo: Juan Medina / Reuters
Mustafa Abdurahman
20-year-old Syrian Mustafa Abdurahman left for Turkey with his family to avoid military service. Now he works in the Syrian National Coalition. Mustafa does not know if he will ever be able to return to his native country.
10. Mustafa with friend Ubeida Zerzur, who also moved from Syria, in a coffee shop in Istanbul. Photo: Osman Orsai / Reuters
Michelle Telleria
Michel Telleria left Cuba at the age of six. His family was among the 10,000 Cubans who sought asylum at the Peruvian embassy in Havana in 1980. They hoped to reach the United States, but remained in Peru. Telleria lives in Lima, making a living selling sweets on buses.
11. Pictured: Michelle with girlfriend Ana Maria in their home in the Villa El Salvador area on the outskirts of Lima. Many Cubans live in this area. Photo: Mariana Bazo / Reuters
12. Michelle Telleria shows a photo of her daughters. Photo: Mariana Bazo / Reuters
Maimon
13. Maimona, 28, traveled to South Sudan's capital Juba from the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan. After the secession of the South three years ago, the area remained part of Sudan and became the focus of clashes between the rebels and the army. Maimona lives with several other people from her native region. She is in her second year of university. Photo: Andreea Campeanu / Reuters