Many thousands of refugees and displaced people around the world are already living in temporary shelters with few resources, and now face winter weather that deepens their hardship.
As cold winter weather arrives in many parts of the world, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working to protect the forcibly displaced through the cold months.
At this time of the year, your donations can make all the difference to help protect people who are already vulnerable.
Afghanistan, and neighbouring countries including Pakistan, families have been subjected to decades of conflict, poverty, and hunger, as well as recurring natural disasters. To protect people from the region’s harsh winters, UNHCR is building shelters, providing heaters to keep people warm and supporting families with cash assistance to help buy food, clothes, and fuel for heating.
Zamir, 45, his wife Mahdouba and their five children have lived in a cave in Afghanistan’s mountainous central Bamyan Province for the past two years but, as winter sets in, they are at last able to move into a new permanent home provided by UNHCR.
“I’m very happy to be moving,” Zamir said.
“I’m also happy to move before winter: it will be warm and more comfortable for us.”
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, millions of people have fled their homes, and face winters in temporary accommodation. In Ukraine, UNHCR is repairing war-torn buildings, distributing insulation kits, and helping families with emergency cash support.
In neighbouring countries like Moldova, UNHCR is helping refugees to integrate into communities, as well as helping them to find jobs to rebuild their lives.
Olga fled Ukraine with her pensioner mother and toddler son after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, escaping by bus from their hometown of Mykolaiv in the country’s south and finding safety in neighbouring Moldova.
Ghasiba was a farmer and carpet weaver in the southern Syrian city of Daraa before conflict forced her to flee to neighboring Jordan where the 56-year-old has lived since 2012, in the Zaatari refugee camp alongside tens of thousands of other displaced Syrians.
While her own three children are grown up, Ghasiba helps look after some of her grandchildren.
“I thought that I had completed my duty, as I raised my children and brought them to safety here in Jordan, but God had another plan for me,” she said.
“My eldest son separated from his wife and now I have ended up raising his three little girls. I am thankful to God for this mission.”
Recently, their situation was improved when UNHCR repaired the leaky roof of her shelter to help keep out the rain.
Her son is a construction worker, but jobs are scarce – especially during the winter months – and money is always tight.
“When the cold is unbearable, I turn on the heater,” she said, but her granddaughters beg her to switch it off to save gas.
“They hope that if we use less gas, then their father would not have to work so much, and they could see him more.”
With what little money they have, Ghasiba prioritizes buying milk for her youngest grandchild – she describes her as “my heart, my soul” – and her hopes for the immediate future are modest.
“My wish is that the girls are able to live in better conditions, in a warm room. I don’t want to see them shaking from cold or going hungry.”
