"As I could not afford to fulfill the needs of my family, my eldest daughter worked in a restaurant to have more income and the younger one worked on household chores.”

World Vision is deeply concerned about children who are the silent sufferers of the current socio-political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka, compounded by the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and a terrorist attack that has severely crippled the country.

Five years on since the conflict in Marawi, thousands remain displaced in evacuation centres, squatter settlements or temporary shelters, as repair and reconstruction works were disrupted by the pandemic. Children have borne the brunt of this urban conflict and have grown up or are growing up amidst  such hardship.

As the conflict in Ukraine enters its second month, the humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan is quickly becoming a forgotten crisis. The gains achieved over the past two decades – including women’s rights and education for all - are now at risk more than ever. 

2022 has seen its fair share of global issues. Right now, there are more refugees and displaced people in the world than at any other time in history with 82.4 million people who have been forced from their homes.

If you were starving and you knew the sale of one of your children would prevent the rest of your children from dying, would you do it?

The grief and mourning that each and everyone carried on their shoulders were visible. As I walked alongside them I felt how utterly unfair life was: we were crossing the same border, but my situation was entirely different. I hold a passport that allows me to travel almost everywhere, I had a hotel reservation waiting for me in Poland, and once my deployment finished, I would fly safely back to my home base. They were marching into the unknown and faced having to process profound feelings of loss, whether of a loved one, of a homeland, of social status, of well-being, of a future.

17-year-old Oleksandr fled Ukraine with his mother and two younger brothers, Dmitri (11) and Iurii (6). His father is still in Ukraine. The rest of the family left when rockets started flying above their house

Easter, represents a time for rebirth, renewal, and hope. But things just don’t feel the same this year as the deadly conflict in Ukraine continues. We spoke to a few of the Ukrainians who will be spending this Easter far away from friends and family who have taken refuge in shelters, schools, and people’s homes across Ukraine and in neighboring countries like Romania and Moldova.