Stories

Rather than looking away from the crisis, these photos offer another perspective, a glimpse into the lives lived within it. Children growing up between flimsy bamboo shelters, fathers teaching daughters and neighbours stopping by to talk. Together, they trace the ordinary rituals of everyday lives.

Humanitarian aid is built on a simple promise: that help will reach those who need it most. Yet around the world, keeping that promise is becoming increasingly dangerous.

In any humanitarian crisis, children usually face the greatest hardships. Across conflict-affected areas, simple actions – such as walking to a neighbour’s house or reading a chalkboard – can become impossible hurdles for children living with disabilities.

In Afghanistan’s drought-stricken province of Herat, families like Afsana’s live far from any hospital, with little money, no option of farming their own food, and no reliable way to reach care.

In a small apartment in Masaken Othman, 24-year-old Bakhita lives with her 5 young children. The space is bare: 1 bed, 2 mattresses on the floor, and a small single-burner stove used for cooking.

In Malawi, one of the countries most affected by climate shocks in southern Africa, years of droughts, floods and erratic rainfall are pushing vulnerable families deeper into food insecurity.

With EU support, the Marhetak project has improved the preparation and coordination of cross-border crisis management in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.

With temperatures rising and forests growing dryer in recent years, wildfires have become the great seasonal challenge for European civil protection. So, what does it take to be truly prepared for a wildfire season in Europe? As with all disaster response operations, time is of the essence.

In this International Year of the Woman Farmer, EU-supported projects in Markounda and Batangafo focus on seed distribution to water access and emergency response. EU Humanitarian aid is helping women, who hold families and communities together, rebuild livelihoods and put food on the table.

In Aida Camp, in the West Bank, where Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Jerusalem converge, daily life unfolds amid constrained, crowded conditions. Here the local football pitch has become a vital community space and a rare source of recreation, connection and resilience.

Just a few years back, their days revolved around work, school, family dinners and plans for the future. All that changed once Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

After fleeing the war in Syria, many refugees in Türkiye faced challenges accessing information and essential services and understanding their rights.

Among the vast refugee camps on the hillsides of Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh, Hamida lives with her 3 sons and young daughter. She arrived in Bangladesh in 2017, fleeing violence that swept through her village in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

A bullet wound. Handwritten death threats. Months spent waiting in shelters meant for temporary halts. Across Mexico, thousands are fleeing violence, poverty and disasters. Many are trapped between the dangers they escaped and borders they cannot cross.

In the village of Kafr Amma in the Aleppo countryside, 10-year-old Leen has recently returned home with her family following years of displacement caused by conflict.

In 2025, a historic monsoon season, compounded by a series of typhoons and floods, left a trail of destruction across Vietnam. For families living on the edge of the climate crisis, the disaster shattered their ability to cope and recover from some of the worst floods.

Europe had its warmest summer on record, the period from June to August 2025 was the warmest ever on a global scale, with temperatures of 0.7°C above the 1991-2020 average.

In northeast Nigeria, the night has long been a source of dread for expectant mothers. In a region where insecurity and displacement have pushed healthcare out of reach, the onset of labour after sundown

As eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo battles a fast-moving Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain, health workers are racing to contain the spread in a region already shaken by conflict, displacement and fragile health systems.