Madjenin Diakite was born in Farabougou, a town of just 2,000 inhabitants in central Mali. She and her family lived off farming a small vegetable garden. In October 2020, at the age of 22, she was forced to leave her village, besieged by a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda. Her father, Aboubakar, told her she had to leave before they, as a woman, came after her. According to the latest UNHCR data, there are at least 43.3 million refugees worldwide—people who have sought protection in another country. In addition, another 73.5 million people are displaced within their own countries due to persecution, violence, conflict, human rights violations, or climate change.Elena Cano GarcíaDiakite left home with nothing but the clothes on her back, leaving behind her two siblings, Aïcha and Mohamed, and her father. For two years, she traveled through Mauritania and Algeria until she reached Tunisia. Along the way, she learned French. In 2023, she reached the Italian island of Lampedusa aboard a cayuco, after a three-day sea voyage, which she still recalls with fear and anguish. Finally, she reached Spain with the help of several NGOs, and the Red Cross included her in a refugee program in Seville. She learned Spanish and now lives and works in Córdoba with her partner and their one-year-old daughter, Awa Samira. The government has granted them international protection. Diakite's only remaining "a pain in her heart": not knowing anything about her father or her siblings.Elena Cano GarcíaKarmen Morales is originally from Lima, the capital of Peru. The father of her three children abused her for five years, starting when she was 21, she says. She says he took two of her children, who were 5 and 6 at the time, from her. She decided to leave her country and arrived in Madrid in March 2023. She left behind two daughters, ages 20 and 24, and a 23-year-old son.Elena Cano GarcíaMorales began her asylum application in Spain in April 2023. However, she was scammed by a supposed lawyer and lost her money. Unable to find a job, she sought help from the Red Cross and was admitted to the refugee program. She was transferred to Seville, where she was able to overcome her depression. Eight months later, she found a job and was able to rent a room. She currently works in temporary jobs, is still waiting for a resolution to her asylum application, and wishes to bring her children to Spain.Elena Cano GarcíaUmeyma Hussein Abdullahi was born in Beledhawa, a small town in Somalia, three kilometers from the Kenyan border. When she was a child, her father died of tuberculosis. She and her mother took care of her six siblings. At 18, her mother sent her to Nairobi, Kenya, to live with her aunt and uncle so she could study and become the breadwinner for her family. However, her relatives didn't allow her to study; they took her into their home to clean, cook, and take care of her young cousins.Elena Cano GarcíaAbdullahi wanted to study. She decided to migrate to Spain and, with the help of her mother, left Kenya on a flight to Istanbul, where she was stranded at the airport for 15 days because she didn't have a visa. In September 2023, at the age of 20, she managed to fly to Madrid, where she applied for asylum and was granted it seven months later. She remained under the protection of the Red Cross refugee program in Seville until early 2025. She now works sporadically and shares an apartment with roommates she met at the shelter. She wants to study and become a radiologist to work in a hospital. Her goal is to "change her mother's life" and help her siblings.Elena Cano GarcíaLuz Marina Reina and Brenda Ceballos are mother and daughter. Both were born in Cali, Colombia, where Reina ran a hair salon out of her home. Business was going well until one day a man approached her and extorted her. They told her that if she didn't pay, they would take her daughter Brenda. Reina had to close the salon, took out a loan from the bank, and in August 2023, they flew to Spain together.Elena Cano GarcíaThey both arrived in Málaga and requested asylum. Meanwhile, a woman offered them a job at a hair salon in Cádiz, but after four days, the business closed. Not knowing what to do, they used their remaining savings to rent a room. A few months later, Reina fell ill with bronchitis, and with no money or work, they turned to the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) for shelter. Their situation worsened when, according toElena Cano García, Ceballos began to be harassed by a man, and they were forced to move again.After six months in Seville, they moved to Algeciras. There, Reina found a job at another hair salon, and with her salary she can now repay the loan she took out to come to Spain. Although she misses her children and her home country, she has no intention of leaving her daughter alone, who yearns for a better future. They live in a small room while they find a larger home they can afford. They are still waiting for a response to their asylum application.Elena Cano García
