Refugees discover they can’t go home again
After months in a refugee camp, a woman we’ll call Hana decided to try going home. Home was all she thought about as she wiped dust off her children’s faces, cooked whatever food she could find, and cleaned their little spot of ground in the refugee camp. The day that...
Update from Syria: the horrors continue
Once again in Syria, innocent civilians are being forced from their homes … whether their home was a remaining structure or an unstable refugee tent.Over the past several weeks, a resurgence of bombings in Syria’s Idlib province has killed more than 300 civilians,...
On the Syrian border: Refugees face more than one enemy
I often get asked, “Vernon, why do you keep traveling back to refugee camps on the Syrian border?” For me, the answer is simple. Because ISIS has not yet been completely defeated. Because these refugees still can’t return home. And because they and their loves ones...
No time for childhood
When I was 12 years old, all I wanted was a pair of jeans from a certain popular store. That was what the cool kids were wearing, and like most pre-teens, I desperately wanted to be cool. I believed wholeheartedly those jeans were the key to elevating my social...
Every day, I try to live my life in such a way that I accomplish at least one thing that will outlive me and last for eternity.