Kharkiv, August 2022 — In a dark, overcrowded cellar in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 40-year-old Natalia is hiding from near-constant air raids occurring nearby. Together with her son, niece, uncle and mother, she lives in one of the most dangerous areas of the city. …

Trinidad — As Manuela Molina* stepped from a pirogue onto a beach in Trinidad, panic turned to relief. The journey from Venezuela had been dangerous but she had felt compelled to make it. …

Western Ukraine, 28 July 2022 — In their most fervent dreams, the war ends tomorrow. They wouldn’t wake up to the sounds of explosions and the crumpled ruins of their cities. If everything depended only on them, tomorrow they would return to rebuild their hometowns or fulfill their pre-war dreams…

Benin City, 28 March 2022 — Twenty-four-year-old Success* stands outside her shop on the outskirts of Benin City, arranging the clothes she is selling; some of them are her own creations. Her little daughter Choice is playing in between the mannequins; she is on school break this week. …

The Gambia, 25 July 2022 — After dropping out of secondary school, employment opportunities for Fatou*, a single mother, were difficult to come by. Knowing this, one of her friends reached out to inform her about the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’. “She told me that there’s a country where Gambian…

Addis Ababa, 25 July 2022 — Abi* was only 17 years old when he left Mesala, a small town some 400 kilometres from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, hoping for a better life in Yemen. “Three years ago, I left Ethiopia after hearing about a ‘broker’ who was willing to facilitate…

Tripoli, 11 July 2022 — When Ime* left Nigeria in 2016, she hoped to find ways of providing for her family. At only 18, she owned and ran a hair salon back in Nigeria for four years. Due to the challenging economic situation in the country at that time, she…

Bilcil, 13 July 2022 — “He was killed while searching for firewood,” said Abdi, a resident of the drought-stricken town of Bilcil, Somalia. “People are fighting over trees.” The young man in Abdi’s village was a schoolteacher whose cattle died due to the ongoing drought affecting the country — the…

Giyan, 12 July 2022 — Under a blazing sun, the victims of the earthquake have gathered on a high-level plateau at 2170m, surveying the damage to their homes and community. Two weeks after the disaster, the death toll had risen to 1,036 and more than 6,000 injured. Zarlakht, a mother…