World Refugee Day

• On June 20, 2009, communities around the world observed World Refugee Day in order to draw attention to the plight of the 42 million refugees today who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or natural disasters. Among the most vulnerable populations in the world, refugees often lack access to clean water, food, sanitation, shelter, and health care.

• The 1951 UN Convention on Refugees defined a refugee as someone who: "...owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."

No one is a refugee by choice. Thousands of people are forced to flee their homes out of fear for their lives and liberty. Imagine leaving behind everything you know - food, culture, friends, family. Imagine leaving behind your home, your possessions, your security. Imagine arriving in a strange land with only what you can carry. Imagine finding yourself in a refugee camp, living in a tent, wondering if you will ever be home again.

Kakuma refugee camp, north-western Kenya. ‘Home’ to 70,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Dust storms, malnutrition, communicable disease outbreaks, and malaria are all ongoing problems

Nine refugee camps stretch along western Thailand's border with Myanmar. Mae La, with a population of 43,000, is the largest.

“I came to the camp 10 years ago …” says a young woman.

Rwandan refugee camp in Democratic Republic of Congo

Displaced people in a camp in Kibati, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. an estimated 250,000 people in the region flee fierce fighting between government and rebel forces.

A baby looks at his mother in a refugee camp near Goma, DRCongo. One million people here are dependent on aid for survival. Fear, hunger and

disease are constant companions.

Hungry people try to push there way into a USAid food distribution centre in Goma refugee camp, DRCongo.

The massive migration of civilians from northwestern Pakistan, where security forces are battling the Taliban, is the biggest ever internal exodus anywhere in the world in the past 15 years. A total

of 1.5 million people are on the move. (May 2009)

Waiting in line for food …

Peshawar, Pakistan: Children walk along a path in a refugee camp

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis have fled their homes over fighting between the Pakistan army and Taliban forces in Northwest Pakistan.

Children and Adults try to maintain some normalcy. Sudanese children attend lessons at a school in Abu Shouk refugee camp, north of the Darfur town of Al-Fasher, Sudan.

School again - Pakistan "First Step" refugee camp tent school

Abdullah Mohammed Hussein (52), who fled Darfur with his family, teaches children from Darfur at Treguine refugee camp in

Eastern Chad.

Imagine moving again. This time to Canada where everything is so different. It is hard.

The Kattels spent almost 20 years in a Nepalese refugee camp before coming to Canada

We all have a place!

Can you tell the refugee child in the photo? It isn’t always visible!

What’s next??

A new and brighter tomorrow!!