A story from a YouBelong volunteer.

Ever wondered what you can do to love your refugee neighbors?

What is a refugee?

According to the Oxford dictionary -

Refugee: (noun) A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

But if you ask any Australian, many will have a different take on what a refugee is and why they are here. Some definitions will be kind, others not.

So what’s the man-in-the-street truth? What does a refugee look like? Talk like? How do they feel about living here? What makes them tick? …

The launch of GROW program is the result of countless volunteer hours and generous supporters and a testimony to what can happen when people come together to walk alongside those who are silently suffering in our midst….

A Syrian refugee who has been in Australia for 18 months joyfully welcomes a family friend who has just arrived to Australia after life in a war zone. They share a connection that not many Aussies can truly understand; carrying the traumas of war to process and heal from, while being overwhelmingly thankful for the rare opportunity to start a fresh life abroad…

The Yezidi people have experienced shocking hardship and persecution in recent years. Now, their leader, Prince Tahseen Said Ali, has died at age 85 after a long illness. He led the Yezidi people since he was 11 years of age…

How do you explain what it is like to lose 18 members of your family to execution or enslavement by ISIS? How does a woman raised to be modest, go about uncovering the sexual abuse and rape she has endured – especially to a global audience? Nadia Murad has done just that and for her courage and determination to be a voice for the Yezidi people, she has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize…

There are 65.6 million people displaced from their homes at this very moment - more than any other point in human history. Half of those displaced are children. 
Tonight, I ponder those statistics and it’s hard not to be overwhelmed with deep sadness. These resilient men, women and children don’t need our pity, they need our love in action.

Yezidis all over the world mourned and remembered the horrific events that took place on August 3, 2014.

Words cannot describe the brutal and barbaric genocide at the hands of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) that led to the kidnapping, enslavement and exploitation of some 8,000 women and children. We attended a commemorative service attended by hundreds of Yezidis that have recently settled in Australia.