Choose Love

Today is the International Day of the Girl, a day to recognise girls’ rights and the challenges they face around the world. The theme this year is ‘Girls’ vision for the future’, focusing on the need for urgent humanitarian action worldwide driven by the power of girls’ voices and their vision for the future. We support partners globally to provide vital care for displaced girls, including providing them with shelter, mental health support, leadership programmes and education, to make sure they can thrive in new surroundings. Globally, our incredible partners Safety and Risk Mitigation, The Vavengers, Women Now For Development, Young Roots, Maram Foundation and Women for Refugee Women are supporting displaced communities in countries including Afghanistan Syria, the UK and Turkey. To help us continue to support displaced girls across the world, please donate what you can via the link below. https://lnkd.in/eSuK5Xav Image: Jeremy Snell.

On World Mental Health Day, we are thinking of our inspiring partners around the world who work tirelessly to support displaced people and provide them with a safe space to heal. There are more than 117 million displaced people worldwide who have had to flee their home to seek safety. More than 43 million of them are children. It is vital that displaced people can process what they have been through, and are given the space and time and support that they need. We are so proud to be supporting partners globally who provide this life-saving work through mental health services, psychosocial support and safe spaces in community for displaced people. To help our partners provide this essential work, you can buy the Mental Health Care item at the Choose Love Shop. Please click the link below and buy our mental health care item today. ❤️ Get yours here: https://lnkd.in/eZ6w_9uv

On World Mental Health Day, we are thinking of our inspiring partners around the world who work tirelessly to support displaced people and provide them with a safe space to heal. There are more than 117 million displaced people worldwide who have had to flee their home to seek safety. More than 43 million of them are children. It is vital that displaced people can process what they have been through, and are given the space and time and support that they need. We are so proud to be supporting partners globally who provide this life-saving work through mental health services, psychosocial support and safe spaces in community for displaced people. To help our partners provide this essential work, you can buy the Mental Health Care item at the Choose Love Shop. Please click the link below and buy our mental health care item today. ❤️ Get yours here: https://lnkd.in/eZ6w_9uv

These powerful photos are from our incredible partner Makani's play, written, directed and produced by the wonderful group! The group of ten women who themselves were seeking sanctuary put on the participatory theatre project, inspired by the Greek play Lysistrata, which explored themes including displacement and deportation. They performed the incredible play at London’s Park Theatre, with three sold-out nights in July, each ending with a standing ovation. We couldn’t be more proud to support such creative, expressive and powerful work from Makani. These quotes from the actors and participants say it all ❤️ ‘To me it’s a dream come true being in the group. It is a turning point in my life and the lives of all the audiences who watched this’. Sheila ‘I sang in Arabic, I danced, I joked, we owned it, and we all were proud of the past we have lived. We all stood together, empowered by our past, grieved our losses and rose for our future, for everything we sacrificed to be where we are.’ Niveen ‘This project brought us up into the limelight. It gave us a voice. It was amazing to meet other women from different cultures, different backgrounds. We are all equal… This was the place where we could fly.’ Julianah To help us continue supporting impactful work like this, please click the link below and donate what you can today. https://lnkd.in/eSuK5Xav

This is our brilliant partner diyarouna, who work with displaced Palestinian and Syrian women and children at a refugee camp in South Lebanon. Over the last couple of weeks, a majority of the refugees and staff members at the camp have been displaced again after being forced to evacuate following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon. The camp is located in a high-risk area in South Lebanon. For those still living in the camp, staff members at Diyarouna are working hard to make sure refugees have sufficient food, energy, water and first aid supplies, but fuel is running low. Diyarouna provides vital support to Palestinian and Syrian refugees and host communities, providing sessions on staying safe in the local area and giving support and psychological sessions to anyone at the camp who is feeling unsafe or uncomfortable in their new surroundings. They also provide art workshops and games for displaced children. As the schools are now closed, having been turned into shelters, the Diyarouna team are providing art therapy sessions for children to reduce the stress and anxiety of the airstrikes. Diyarouna’s work is vital for displaced people now and in the future. To support more of our partners like Diyarouna, who are making change for displaced women and children every day, please go to the link below and give what you can. Thank you. https://lnkd.in/eSuK5Xav

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to our $20K matchfund for Sudan. Thanks to your generosity, we have now reached our match fund and can commit $40,000 funding to partners working locally to support those affected. There is so much happening in the world right now, but we can’t forget about Sudan, where 10 million people have been uprooted from their homes. People are dying from starvation, and famine has already been declared in some areas. There is nowhere near enough pledged funding for the needs. Please keep sharing and donating what you can. Thank you so much. Donate here: https://lnkd.in/ePBe5vFU #Sudan #KeepEyesOnSudan #DontForgetSudan #ChooseLove

This is Sarah. She is the Director of our incredible partner Da'aro Youth Project who support young people from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia with a safe space to come together, socialise and relax. Da’aro Youth Project do life-saving work supporting displaced young people who arrived in the UK alone. Their support takes on many forms, from providing traditional home-cooked meals, putting on games and activities, organising group trips to the cinema and going to watch the football. Da’aro know how important community is for young people, and they do everything they can to make sure displaced young people in the UK know they belong. As well as this, they provide practical help, including casework support on housing, the education system and navigating the asylum system. And wherever possible they help to reunite young people with family in the UK. We are so proud to work with Da'aro Youth Project. To help support our work with displaced people, please donate what you can. https://lnkd.in/eiwwCHwp #ChooseLove #ChooseSolidarity #RefugeesWelcome 

Today marks one year since the Hamas attack in Israel in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed, and one year of unimaginable devastation, destruction and displacement from Israel's military offensive against Gaza, and now Lebanon. More than 41,000 Palestinians, over 14,000 of them children, and over 2000 people in Lebanon have since been killed by the Israeli military. Millions of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. People are dying from starvation, injury and disease. They are in desperate need of food, water, medical care, and safe shelter as bombardment continues. Our hearts are with every single person who is grieving, displaced from their homes, and living in fear of further attacks, no matter where they are from - Palestinian, Lebanese, Israeli and those in the region fearing escalation. The only way forward is a Ceasefire Now. For the people still alive. Ceasefire Now. #CEASEFIRENOW #ReleaseTheHostages

October is Black History Month in the UK, when we learn about the history of the fight for civil rights, and celebrate the incredible achievements of Black people and people of colour. Civil rights activist, Paul Stephenson led the Bristol Bus Boycott, the country’s first Black-led campaign against racial discrimination. He led the 1963 boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company, protesting against its refusal to employ Black or Asian drivers or conductors. After 60-days, the company reversed its racist and discriminatory policy. We hold his powerful words with us today as we work together to create a more equal and just world for BIPOC communities, and stand in solidarity with those leading vital change. hashtag #blackhistorymonth

This is the inspiring Osama, who started volunteering with our partner Refugee Biriyani & Bananas while awaiting his asylum application in Greece. Refugee Biryani & Bananas distribute humanitarian aid packages, provide translation and offer outreach assistance to displaced people in camps and settlements across the world. Osama became an important member of the team and since receiving his asylum he has worked to distribute aid across borders to the people who needed them. Osama's continued involvement with Refugee Biryani & Bananas shows how their work empowering people who are refugees has lead to impactful change for Osama and displaced people around the world. We’re so happy for them both. To support more of our partners like Refugee Biryani & Bananas, please go to the link below and give what you can. Thank you. Donate here: https://lnkd.in/gEnsjCqj