Humans Of New York raises $750,000 for Syrian refugees
ON CHRISTMAS day, the photographer behind Humans of New York started something ambitious. Four days and $750,000 later, he’s succeeded.
YOU’VE all seen the powerful portraits, and most of you will have shared them at least once.
Brandon Stanton, who runs the blog Humans of New York, has captivated the digital world with his powerful portraits and stories of people on the streets of New York and beyond.
Now, the talented photographer and storyteller has cultivated a new achievement: he’s raised a whopping $US745,000 for refugee families in just four days.
Stanton started the fundraiser on Christmas Day after interviewing twelve Syrian families who were cleared for resettlement in America. He later shared their heartbreaking stories on the Humans of New York Facebook page, which currently has well over 16 million followers.
“Most of the refugee families that we profiled this month have made their way to
America. And as the initial excitement fades, they are faced with the stark reality of starting from zero in a new land,” he said.
“Being an immigrant is very difficult. Being a refugee is even worse. Most of them lost
everything in the war. And because they were kind enough to share their stories with us, I
thought that we could help carry a bit of their load this Christmas.”
One woman, Aya, told the heartbreaking story of how her father went out and simply
disappeared. She described the struggle of not knowing where he is, and said she couldn’t bring
herself to tell her younger sisters the truth.
“How could he leave me like this? How could he leave all of this on my shoulders? I’m twenty years old. I can’t handle all of this by myself. I don’t need him to work, or make money, but I need him.”
She also described the struggle of being a refugee in another country, having fled from Syria to Turkey. Aya said her four years in the latter country were the hardest of her life. She had to deal with everything from switching places of residence due to racist landlords to physical abuse to online attacks from total strangers.
“Being a refugee is really hard. They blame us for everything. They blame us for no jobs. For crowded streets. For crime. They say that we are the reason for everything bad. And if war ever comes to Turkey, we’ll be the first to die. Because they’ll blame us for that too.”
Stanton said all the money raised would be divided evenly among the families profiled, as an
opportunity to “give back” to the refugees who shared their stories of hardship. He also noted
that any family who declined assistance would have their share donated to the resettlement
organisation helping with their transition.
The fundraiser is still going, with almost 20,000 people having contributed since Christmas Day.
You can donate here.
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