Seeking Shelter

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

From the world’s biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, to a stroll down the Champs Elysées (not that one, the other one) to a hair-raising, 1,200-kilometre journey in search of a new start in a Colombian town… “Seeking Shelter” looks at how the forcibly displaced find ways to adapt, survive and thrive once they have reached a place of safety. In August 2017, facing unimaginable violence and the destruction of their villages, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown. In only three years, what had been an area of jungle quickly turned into a refugee camp the size of a full-blown city. In Jordan, meanwhile, some of the millions of displaced Syrians who found shelter in refugee camps have set up thriving markets, businesses, sports clubs, schools and more as they seek to rebuild their lives. Today, however, most refugees are to be found not in camps but in urban or semi-urban areas, trying to find decent accommodation, make a living and give their children a good start in life – as the story of a remarkable Venezuelan couple illustrates.