In Refugee Week, this is the story behind Choose Love

Refugees Welcome: Having patient, compassionate conversations with people who don’t share our beliefs can change the world, writes Josie Naughton

Over the years, globally, we have seen environments become more and more hostile (EPA)

It is Refugee Week and today there are around 100 million displaced people in the world. When Choose Love began, less than seven years ago, there were 65 million.

This stark figure tells the story of the scale of this situation, but we also remember that each of those people is a human being – with a story, with best friends, people who make them laugh, memories of home and with dreams for the future. Every single person has the right to protection, the right to seek safety and everyone should have the opportunity to rebuild their life.

World Refugee Day offers us a moment to be inspired by the power and resilience of the human spirit of the millions of people who, despite being displaced and having been through so much, have the courage to continue moving forward for their families and communities.

At Choose Love we are honoured to partner with many organisations run by people who, themselves, have experienced forced displacement. People who now dedicate their lives to supporting others, with their deep understanding of the complexities and the pain that all that comes with forced displacement can bring to people at every stage of their journeys. To name a few, Aderonke Apata, founder of African Rainbow Family, and Aloysius Ssali, founder of Say it Loud Club – both organisations support LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers here in the UK.

Zarlasht Halaimzai is the founder of Amna, which provides psychological support and trauma-informed care from early childhood development through to youth and adults, Taban Shoresh, founder of the Lotus Flower, which runs safe community centres inside refugee camps for displaced women and girls. We at Choose Love are inspired by these brilliant people every day.

Their work, and the work of our 180 grassroots partners in 23 countries all over the world, motivates us to keep on fundraising – doing our bit to help make that work possible. As governments turn a blind eye to (and, often, even seek to actively harm) some of the most vulnerable in our society, civil society steps in, and when you donate to Choose Love, we are able to continue to support all of this work.

Our partners provide everything from sea rescue to emergency medical care, from food to clean drinking water. The refugee communities our partners serve include people from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, South Sudan, Iraq, Ukraine and many more countries besides.

Over the years, globally, we have seen environments become more and more hostile. Borders have been closed, walls have been built and refugees have been systematically dehumanised. The UK government’s current Rwanda project is a devastating example of this horrible trend.

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We have learned that this is not a humanitarian crisis but a political one, where human beings are used as pawns to win elections to attain and maintain political power all over the world.

This can all feel disempowering and scary but, since we started Choose Love (formerly Help Refugees) we have also learnt that there is so much we can all do to help. And that that help can and does make a difference. Making sure new parents have nappies for their baby, that people have shady spaces in summer, warm blankets in winter and access to legal support does make a difference.

And this is what donations enable. When you buy a Choose Love tee you are wearing your solidarity on your chest and also making a donation. Writing to your MPs has the power to influence and change legislation. We have seen it happen. Having patient, compassionate conversations with people who don’t share our beliefs can change the world, if we all do so.

Josie Naughton is CEO and co-founder of Choose Love