They have spent the last five years cut off from the world, living in the cold, unheated basement of a local mosque with seven other displaced families. With no work available, 45-year-old Muhammed relies on assistance from aid organizations and the local community to feed his family. Until May 2017, when UNHCR and partners were able to deliver food and other essentials to the remote town, they had gone without for months.

“We had nothing to cook for our children,” he explains. “We hadn’t received aid since June last year. There was no rice, bulgur wheat or oil. Food prices are high and there are no job opportunities for us to make ends meet.”

Thanks to the support of donors like you, UNHCR and partners were able to send 41 trucks loaded with food, medical supplies, basic household items and school books to the town of 44,000. This is part of UNHCR’s efforts to reach displaced families inside Syria with the basic items they need to get by.

For Muhammed and other families in the area, this assistance has provided a lifeline. His hope now is for a lasting solution to the conflict – the only way for his children to reclaim what is left of their childhood. “I hope that peace can flourish in my country again, and my kids can continue their lives like any other children in the world.”

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Now safe in a UNHCR-supported temporary shelter, Asmaa and Ali have returned to school with the support their family and UNHCR. None of this would be possible with the support of donors like you.

Asmaa and Ali’s father, a wheat farmer back home, is relieved that his children are safe and back in school. He is grateful for the assistance provided by UNHCR and partners at the shelter, where tens of thousands of displaced people like him are given safe shelter and humanitarian aid. Still, he hopes his family will be able to return to their village soon and resume a normal life.

Until that time comes, Asmaa is focusing on her studies. Despite being older than others in her class, she feels happy and optimistic. “I will continue my learning and will go to university. I want to do something remarkable with my life.”

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The 29-year-old lives with her husband Mahmoud, 38, and their children Bashayer, three, Hussein, nine, Suleiman, 12, Youssef, six, and Fatima, one, in an informal settlement in north Lebanon. The family left Homs in 2013 and are one of 33,000 vulnerable refugee families in Lebanon receiving monthly cash assistance from UNHCR – thanks to donors like you.

Lebanon, with a total population of less than six million, currently hosts over one million Syrian refugees. Most live below the poverty line, and nearly all are in debt. UNHCR’s cash assistance programme provides $175 per month to the most vulnerable families to help them meet their basic needs. Families like Nouf’s.

Every month, Nouf gets a text message alerting her that the family’s monthly cash assistance has been uploaded on their ATM card. “As soon as I receive the message, I go to the nearest ATM to withdraw the money, then I buy medicine.” The money helps the family pay their electricity bill as well as their rent, healthcare, food and clothes. Despite the lifeline this provides, they still long for home, where they want to return and rebuild.

“Is there anyone who would not feel nostalgic for his country? There is no better place than home,” explains Mahmoud.

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The experience left them afraid and exhausted, but was particularly hard on Abdul Kader’s three children, who had to leave their school and friends behind.

“We were so scared, moving around from house to house, taking everything with us,” says Abdul Kader’s 14-year-old daughter Dania. “Every time we moved, I fell further behind in school,” adds her brother Saleh, 12, who wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

When Abdul Kader first returned to the ruins of his home after five long years away, the scale of the destruction left him numb. “At first I didn’t react at all. I was in shock. I went in for five or ten minutes, then left. I just couldn’t stand it,” he says.

After a couple of weeks, the soft-spoken former Arabic teacher found the strength to return. Working alone in the rubble of his house, he slowly began to clear the debris and fill the gaping holes left by years of shelling – determined to rebuild his home and life.

With financial assistance from UNHCR, the family has been able to renovate much of what remained of their home, replacing doors and windows and repairing the water and electricity networks. Their situation is not easy, but they are glad to be in a familiar place. “Regardless of the circumstances, there is no place like home,” explains Abdul Kader. “The feeling of coming back is great. I feel like a bird that has returned to its nest after being away for so long.”

For Saleh, years of displacement and conflict have not crushed his spirit or dreams. “What’s happening now will not stop me. I want to focus on my education and not give up.”

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They are among approximately 3,500 Syrian refugees who have found safety in Morocco.

When the family first arrived, Diyaa was forced to start over from scratch, putting in long hours to make a wide range of shoes. “At the beginning, I worked for 18 to 20 hours a day and lived 20 kilometres away,” he says. “Each day, I had a two-hour ride one way to get to work.”

But Diyaa was determined to succeed, for his family: “Whenever I had difficulties, I was telling myself to never let go, to go forward with my head up and to get up every time I fell down. At the end of the day, it is my family’s welfare that kept me going.”

His perseverance paid off. Soon, he won loyal customers and more orders, with the help of a UNHCR grant which allowed him to buy his first sewing machine. Today, he can provide for his family and rents an apartment closer to his work. “At the beginning, I worked alone,” he explains. “Then I received from UNHCR the first sewing machine as part of an income-generating activity for refugees. It was a real boost. Little by little, things improved. Today, I employ four Moroccan workers.”

Grateful for the welcome he’s received, Diyaa has chosen to employ young Moroccans from a poor neighbourhood, whom he regards as “brothers.” He has also helped other Syrians to open a second shoe-making shop nearby. He has even been awarded a prize by a Moroccan small enterprise association, for his inspiring contribution to his host community, as a refugee entrepreneur.

“I did not expect to be given awards. I came to Morocco with empty pockets. I had to start, not from zero, but from minus one hundred. This acknowledges my efforts and hard work against all odds. Thanks to my work, my family and I were able to progress.”

Despite his business success, Diyaa longs to return to Syria, when things improve. “There is no place like home,” he says, with a sigh.

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Rayan, 12, and her sister Zeinab, 10, are among dozens of Syrian children taking taekwondo classes as part of an initiative launched last year by UNHCR and the World Taekwondo Federation.

“I would like to be a world champion,” explains Rayan with a broad smile. “I want people to wonder how a little girl was able to discover taekwondo and defend herself.”

In 2016, the girls and their parents fled the war back home in Syria. Their mother, 39-year-old Badra, remembers it well. “Our house was bombed three days before we fled Syria…We came here to this camp. When we first arrived, we started to cry. We were shocked. But the most positive thing is that my children are no longer scared. They are safe and they go to school too.”

They found refuge in Jordan’s Azraq camp, where UNHCR and partners provide shelter and vital support – thanks to kind, caring donors like you.

Then Rayan and Zeinab discovered a sport that changed their life. Learning taekwondo in the UNHCR-supported centre has taught them self-defence and boosted their self-confidence. “They were shy before,” says their mother. “But after they started this sport, they made many friends and their self-confidence improved.”

“For me, taekwondo is a sport that helps to learn and discover new things,” says Rayan. “It is not like football, football is just a game, it does not make you acquire skills that you can make use of. Taekwondo is much more interesting. It teaches you how to defend yourself.”

Attending the taekwondo academy has fueled Rayan’s ambitions. She dreams of competing in the Olympics, while her sister Zeinab wants to be a chef and a taekwondo coach, “to defend myself.” The sport has also expanded their horizons, through a South Korean coach who has been helping to train the girls.

“The coach showed us pictures of Korea,” Zeinab explains. “I fell in love with that view at first sight.” Her older sister Rayan is just as eager to travel: “I want to visit safe countries and explore cities. I want to see places with beautiful views like Syria, where there are green fields, flowers and mountains. I’d like to see it all.”

Self-defence classes are part of a wider UNHCR push to empower refugee women and girls across the region, and reduce the risks of violence and exploitation they face. The drive includes cash assistance, skills training and provision of safe spaces.

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“In Syria, I knew my surroundings, I could go around easily,” explains the 44-year-old mother of five children, now a refugee in northern Lebanon. “Here in Lebanon you need to read to know where to go. If I get a text message from UNHCR or another organization, I want to be able to read it. If my child asks me about her lessons, I want to be able to answer her.”

Twice a week, Ghalia attends a literacy class for Syrian refugee mothers and grandmothers, to learn how to read and write. Her teacher, Fatima, is a refugee too. She gives these lessons for free, with books and material provided by UNHCR and its partner Save the Children.

For most of the women, it’s their first time in a classroom. Now, they take great pride in being able to support their children with their homework, to help them succeed and better integrate in Lebanon.

“I help them spell and write words,” explains Ghalia. “Before, I couldn’t tell if their handwriting was good or not. I couldn’t differentiate, but now I can.”

“It’s such a nice feeling when you see your students improving before your eyes,” says her teacher Fatima. “When I started teaching them, they were uncomfortable and upset, since some of them could not even hold a pen properly.”

Ghalia’s five children are all in school, from grades one to six. Though life in exile is not easy, she’s determined to do the best she can to help them succeed. “Now I want my own daughters to be literate so that they educate their own kids one day.”

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