Our Stories

In October 2020, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) CAR met Jean-Jacques’ armed group to convince them to allow Jean-Jacques to restart his life – as part of a Child Protection project funded by UNICEF and aimed to support the education of 300 vulnerable children and teenagers in Bambari.

Armed with a camera crew, a distinct humanitarian vision, and backing from the US Department of State’s PRM Bureau, meet JRS filmmaker Katherin Alfonso.

Since the conflict broke out in November 2020, JRS Ethiopia has been forced to adapt its approach to serve and accompany existing refugees and newly displaced persons across the region.

As part of our recognition of the Ignatian Year, JRS/USA is asked Ryan Birjoo, SJ, a Regent serving with JRS in Beirut as part of the Middle East and North Africa Regional Team, about his “cannon ball moment” is and how he sees the life and teachings of St. Ignatius in the work he does for JRS.

Upholding reconciliation and social cohesion as priorities, JRS Cameroon now offers an eight-month professional training and student dorm for young refugees and Cameroonians in five different centers.

Yasmine, 31, is a refugee mother originally from Syria who attended courses at the JRS social centre in Bar Elias, Lebanon. Like so many women in this region of the world, her life has been upended by the conflicts of the last few years. She fled to Lebanon in 2015 under very hard conditions. Of all the trials of the last few years, though, Yasmine unhesitatingly says that the most difficult has involved “being forcibly separated from my children and left alone in 2017.”

This year ushered in a new Congress and Administration and raised questions about the future of US policy as it relates to refugees and those seeking protection from persecution, conflict, and violence, among other things. Here are four key takeaways on refugee policy from the first 100 days President Biden has been in office.

Born in Sinjar, Northern Iraq in the late 1980s, Talal grew up under the dark shadow of Saddam Hussein’s merciless dictatorship. A Yazidi man, he belongs to one of the oldest religious minorities in the entire region. Today, he oversees JRS Youth and Adult Skills Education programs that lift up nearly 3,000 IDP families and 17,000 total individuals.

Susan Martin, Professor Emerita at Georgetown University, discusses global strategies to support climate migrants and ways that JRS can advance education and future programming.