In Pictures

Gallery|Poverty and Development

Life in displacement: Making ends meet, far from home

From Iraq to Tanzania, Lebanon to the DRC, millions of refugees and displaced people get by on hopes of returning home.

Oxfam - making ends meet
Mohamad al Hraki used to make artisanal French lace for a Beirut fashion house but now works in his uncle's restaurant in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan. [Sam Tarling/Oxfam]
Published On 17 Jul 2016

More than 65 million people around the globe have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict and violence, the highest level since records began. 

People who have had to leave their lives behind and start afresh far from home often struggle to make a living and support their families. Many are living in refugee camps or within local communities, where opportunities for work are scarce. 

Yet behind the statistics lie powerful stories of survival and determination. People show remarkable courage and ability to keep going, in spite of the challenges they face – often learning new skills and taking up different jobs from those they had before. 

From Iraq to Tanzania, Lebanon to the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are millions of refugees – as well as people forced to flee within their own country – who are making ends meet while they wait to eventually return home. 

People fleeing conflict and persecution are at their most vulnerable, and are often met with hostility and discrimination in the places they seek refuge, but these stories are testament to their will to keep going. 

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As one Burundian teacher-turned-tailor living in Tanzania explained: “People survive in different ways.” 

Oxfam - making ends meet
Ahmad Ghojan used to be a truck driver before the war but now runs a perfume shop in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. [Sam Tarling/Oxfam]
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Oxfam - making ends meet
Abu Ashraf, 46, a father of three from Syria, makes falafel outside his restaurant in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. He had a falafel place back in Syria and says it tasted better there as the chickpeas he could get were better than those in Jordan. [Sam Tarling/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
Imani Sareno works as a tailor inside his temporary shelter in Buporo camp, Eastern DRC. He fled fighting in his home six times. 'Before the war, thank goodness, I had already learned to sew - it helps me survive. I always want to go back home. Life here is very difficult.' [Eleanor Farmer/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
A 15-year-old boy repairs a mobile telephone in a small shop in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. His father owns the business, which he set up in the camp, and he repairs and charges telephones, as well as selling copies of music that people load on to their phones. [Phil Moore/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
Kashindi works as a beekeeper in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. The 47-year-old is a refugee from South Kivu in the DRC and has lived at Nyarugusu since 1997. Back in Congo he used to be a beekeeper also, and describes himself as a conservationist. 'If there are beehives in the trees, people don't chop them down,' he says. Kashindi teaches beekeeping to other refugees as part of Oxfam livelihoods programme project, using equipment donated by Oxfam. [Phil Moore/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
Women prepare dough to make chapatis in a bakery in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. Four groups of bakers work shifts at the bakery, doing around two days a week and splitting the profits at the end of the month. They sell the bread to the local community from the bakery and in the market. The bakery was opened through an Oxfam grant. [Phil Moore/Oxfam]
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Oxfam - making ends meet
A 27-year-old woman rolls out chapatis in a bakery in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. She arrived in the camp in May 2015, her second time as a refugee. 'I knew how to make mandazi [local doughnuts] and chapatis,' she says. 'It was only the baking process I had to learn. It's not difficult.' Her husband has no work and she's the breadwinner of the family. 'He cooks when I'm not there and looks after the children. I don’t feel good being a refugee,' she says. 'I don’t feel good at all.' [Phil Moore/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
This 54-year-old Burundian refugee lives in Nyarugusu refugee camp. She is working on a road construction project as an Oxfam cash-for-work beneficiary. [Amy Christian/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
One Burundian refugee living in Nyarugusu refugee camp has been made a refugee for the second time. He was a school teacher before. Now he's a tailor with the Oxfam livelihoods project tailoring studio. The tailors here split the profit from the business among themselves. [Amy Christian/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
This 48-year-old mother and her family have been displaced in Iraq since they fled from ISIL in 2014 to Bugali village in the Kurdistan region. 'Many people died because of the bombings - young boys, girls and even old people. I felt that I didn't want anything from life except the safety of my family... I just wanted to get away from the situation. I didn't want anything else, even if I only ate dust and drank water. We were so scared,' she said. Thanks to support from Oxfam, the woman was able to buy a small freezer which enabled her to sell cold drinks. The money she makes in her shop goes towards paying for cattle feed. [Tommy Trenchard/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
The Iraqi refugee recounted how the family fled in the middle of the night during rainy weather. 'Displaced people were not very welcome,' she remembers. 'We were afraid that the people of the village would misunderstand us or think we are ISIL, because we were displaced,' she said of the night they arrived in Bugali village. 'Sometimes, people buy stuff from us and they don't pay cash, but I accept it. In this way we can help each other. Even if sometimes they didn't pay me, I'll not complain,' saying she's happy to have customers. [Tommy Trenchard/Oxfam]
Oxfam - making ends meet
Ayad, 74, prepares tobacco leaves with his wife Leila, 44, and their two children in an informal settlement in north Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. The family fled their home in Syria's Hama province after their village was attacked. When Khaled had a heart attack not long ago, Oxfam and UNHCR helped to cover his treatment costs. [Sam Tarling/Oxfam]