When you hear a word often enough, it can begin to lose its weight.

Refugee. Famine. War.

You hear these words over and over in the news. You’re inundated with information. Overwhelmed by statistics and the magnitude of pain in the world. You can become numb to the suffering.

For more than seven years, you’ve heard about bloodshed in Syria. Other conflicts are drowned out by the local news of the day. Like the persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. The civil war in South Sudan. Or the renewed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There is a lot of suffering in our broken world. And it’s easy to think that your actions are insignificant.

But they’re not. Your actions matter. You matter. To real people in difficult places.

You matter to Anora.

She ran from her burning village in Myanmar, carrying her only son. When they arrived in Bangladesh, her son became weak with hunger. His bones protruded through his skin. Your support trained refugee volunteers to reach out to their sick neighbors. It was one of these volunteers who found Anora’s son and carried him to a Medical Teams clinic. There, the doctor gave him life-saving nutritional supplements. You spared Anora the heartbreak of losing her son.

You matter to Diana.

Raped and left for dead in South Sudan, Diana managed to get to a refugee settlement in Uganda. Now she suffers from depression and PTSD. The things that once gave her joy now trigger her PTSD. Thanks to you, a Medical Teams mental health professional visits Diana each week. Diana was feeling alone and scared but now she has support and care.

You matter to Maha. 

In Syria, Maha had completed high school and dreamed of going to college. She had to flee when ISIS occupied her home. Violence turned her life upside down. But now she finds fulfillment in something else–caring for her neighbors. Medical Teams trained Maha to care for other refugees in her community with illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure. Now Maha has a new dream–to become a nurse.

I’m going to make a guess. I bet if you’re reading this blog post, you believe every person–no matter where they are or how desperate their circumstance–matters. You care about hurting mothers and children you may never meet. They matter to you. And you matter to them.

I hope the next time you hear the word “refugee” you think of Anora, Diana, and Maha. I hope you know that you are touching real lives.

Through your actions, you’re letting suffering people know that they are loved. You’re reassuring them that they are not alone. You’re showing them they matter.

You can provide life-saving medical care for refugees. Please give today.