A Thoughtfully Curated List of Gifts Created By or In Support of Refugees
Written by Grace Benton, Refugees Thrive Board Member
In 2017, we released a Holiday Gift Guide for shoppers looking to purchase gifts that support refugees. In response to popular demand, we are updating and expanding our guide for 2019 so that you can generate impact for refugees while you shop this season!
The holiday season is here — it is a beautiful time of sharing memories, meals, and gifts with loved ones. Because it is also the busiest time of the year for shopping, it is also the pinnacle of consumerism and commercialism. With the advent of targeted marketing, particularly through social media platforms, we are bombarded by enormous amounts of pressure to buy certain products, and this combines with social pressures to get just the right gift. Because of this, the holiday season can often be overwhelming and stressful for some.
Our goal in compiling this list is to help alleviate some of that tension and stress so that you can be confident that you are getting a responsibly-sourced gift that makes a real difference for others. For many of us, we want our gift to be more than just a material good. We want it to be a gesture of our care and affection for the receiver; gift-giving can be a love language, a way of putting love and kindness out in the world. When you purchase an item that is created by or in support of refugee communities worldwide, you have an effect well beyond the material good you have given to a loved one; you are effectively generating impact for refugees, their families, and their communities.
According to the United Nations, there were more than 70 million people who were forced to flee their homes last year. This holiday season, you can make a difference for displaced communities by shopping with intention! Our thoughtfully curated list that follows offers three simple but impactful ideas:
1. Buy handicrafts created by refugee artisan cooperatives and organizations.
Preemptive Love is a non-profit organization that seeks to unmake violence and also hosts a number of refugee-created goods, including candles, soaps, and woven children’s toys all handmade by Iraqi and Syrian women displaced by violence.
Tight-Knit Syria is a non-profit organization that works with displaced Syrian women in Lebanon to produce a range of beautiful products, including scarves, wallets, purses, bookmarks, and t-shirts. These lovely pieces make excellent gifts!
Darzah Flats: Darzah (which means “stitch” in Arabic) is a non-profit, ethical fashion brand specializing in Palestinian “tatreez” embroidery, a centuries-old art form, traditionally passed down from mother to daughter. Each of their pieces is hand-embroidered and 100% handcrafted in the West Bank. They have a great mission: 1) to create economic opportunities for refugee and low-income women artisans, and 2) to celebrate tatreez embroidery and Palestinian cultural heritage.
Soup for Syria: This gorgeous cookbook is the product of a collaboration between bestselling cookbook author, photographer, and food writer Barbara Abdeni Massaad (Man’oushe: Inside the Lebanese Street Corner Bakery) with nearly 80 acclaimed chefs. Profits will be donated to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees.
Womancraft Woven Baskets: WomenCraft is a social enterprise and member of the World Fair Trade Organization working with more than 300 artisans in 17 villages in Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. WomenCraft consists of 24 artisans groups, which include former refugee women, survivors of genocide, and HIV-positive artisans. Their woven baskets make a gorgeous accent piece to any home!
Looking for more ideas? Check out these other excellent lists featuring refugee-made goods that support refugee livelihoods:
Threadspun: 5 brands that employ refugees resettled to the United States
Etsy’s “Made by Refugees” page: Etsy’s curated list of all refugee-made goods on the Etsy platform
2. Buy from organizations or companies that donate all or a percentage of their proceeds to support refugees.
Refugees Thrive offers t-shirts, sweatshirts, onesies, mugs, tote bags, pillow cases, and more! All items feature stunning original calligraphy by Reagan Maher including the phrase “Refugees Thrive” in 12 languages spoken by refugees in Cairo, Egypt: Fur, Amharic, Oromo, Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Moro, Zagawa, Tigre, Somali, Tigrinya, and Bilen.
These are the perfect gifts, because not only do all profits from these sales fund education, legal, medical and psychosocial services for refugees in Cairo, they are a great way to display your support for refugees! Join the RTI newsletter first to receive a discount code for free shipping!
3. Donate to an organization serving refugees in a loved one’s name.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) works with refugees and other populations in-need all over the world. This great organization offers fantastic gift options whereby you can donate a certain amount towards a certain cause, such as $116 to send two girls to school for a year, or $68 to provide emergency food aid to children in war zones. All you do is choose your gift, dedicate your gift to a loved one (who will receive a printed card or e-card shortly thereafter), and then make an impact on families forced to leave their homes.
Other excellent organizations doing important work with refugees that you may consider supporting this holiday season include the Collateral Repair Project (a community-based organization in Amman, Jordan), Jesuit Refugee Services (an international organization that has been accompanying, serving, and advocating for displaced populations since 1980), and RefugePoint (another international organization that focuses providing lasting, durable solutions for refugees).
Finally, Refugees Thrive also offers an option to donate in the name of a loved one! Your donation goes a long way to help refugees in Egypt: $5 provides refreshments for psychosocial support groups, and $25 pays for a refugee child to see a doctor. RTI will send a lovely handwritten postcard to the recipient of your choosing!
Still can’t find the perfect gift? A great option is AmazonSmile; select Refugees Thrive International as your charity of choice, or any charity for that matter, and Amazon will donate a percentage of your purchase to support those in need.
Happy Holidays from all of us at Refugees Thrive!
Neither the Refugees Thrive International organization nor its board members endorse any of these products or services, and have not been paid to promote these items in anyway.
Refugees Thrive International envisions a world in which all refugees are safe and healthy, refugee rights are respected and protected, and refugees are empowered to make their own decisions about their future. Read more about our mission and values here.