As 2018 ends, we reflect on lives transformed. Because our work is motivated by the belief that every person matters,  we believe it’s important to know these people as individuals. Their lives have been upturned by devastating events, experiences we often hear about but rarely see. That’s why we’ve assembled 18 powerful images that show some of these lives and document their experiences. We hope to tear back the curtain to reveal what it’s like to cross a border, receive a health screening at a refugee clinic or be treated at a war-afflicted health center in Syria.

  • Rohingya refugees, Abdur and his daughter, in Bangladesh.
    (1) Abdur and his daughter are among the many Rohingya refugees receiving desperately-needed medical care and nutrition services from Medical Teams and our partners.

From the rural highlands of Guatemala to the teeming refugee settlements of Uganda, people in crisis around the world are celebrating the lifesaving care they received in 2018. These are individuals whose lives are at a crossroads. Syrian refugees in Lebanon, having escaped war, now live in camps on the edge of farmland. Rohingya families, survivors of ethnic cleansing, inhabit crowded camps in Bangladesh, where diseases spread quickly. In Guatemala, far from health facilities, mothers yearn to keep their babies healthy. And healing happens daily in all of these places, thanks to supporters like you.

2018 was an amazing year, a year in which people found hope in health. And the impact has been far reaching.

  • You served more than 1 million refugees in Uganda, Lebanon, Turkey, Bangladesh and Tanzania.
  • You supported the construction of new health clinics in Bangladesh, serving thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.
  • You helped thousands of pregnant women give birth safely and then provided nutritional food to their hungry babies.
  • You made it possible for more than 20,000 Americans to receive urgently-needed dental care.
  • And thousands of war-displaced Syrians can now safely receive health care at clinics because of you.

These 18 photos only scratch the surface of lives you’ve helped transform. But we hope they show the impact you can have on people in crisis around the world.

In 2019 — with your help — we’ll continue to bring healing to a hurting world.