For many people displaced by conflict, daily life can change in an instant. Families have been forced from their homes, separated from loved ones, and left trying to rebuild with limited access to the essentials they need.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to care deeply for people who are vulnerable, displaced and in need.
This End of Financial Year, our focus is on refugees and internally displaced people affected by conflict. In Poland, the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine, OM teams and trusted partners are responding with essential aid and care.
Give a tax-deductible gift today
Gifts of $2 or more are tax-deductible through the OM Overseas Aid Fund ABN 27 182 395 136
Or give with a Bank Transfer:
Your gift will support approved aid and relief work across the focus areas of this appeal. To ensure your gift can have the greatest impact, funds may be allocated across these projects according to need, timing and project capacity, helping us steward resources wisely.
Selma* was living in a refugee camp with her husband and three sons when she became pregnant with their fourth child. During her pregnancy, an OM team visited the camp each week, bringing baby products, nappies and other items she needed.
Since then, Selma’s circumstances have become even more difficult. Her husband was recently deported back to their home country, leaving her alone, raising four children without family support nearby. But because the team continues to visit the camp regularly, Selma has not had to face these challenges entirely on her own.
For Selma, these regular visits mean more than supplies. In a temporary place, far from what is familiar, they bring stability and real relief as she cares for her newborn daughter and her sons.
*Name changed
In Poland, OM teams are supporting refugees and asylum seekers from the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and other regions through essential aid, language classes, children’s and family activities, support groups, community connection and transition assistance.
In Sudan, and among Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad, displaced individuals and families are receiving food packages, clothing, shelter assistance and trauma care.
In the Middle East, one of our trusted partners is helping refugee families access medical and psychosocial care, early intervention, health education and care for children and families.
And across Ukraine, OM teams are providing food aid, medical help, trauma recovery programmes for children, and care for widows, orphans and families affected by the war.
Different needs, same caring response.
The needs differ from place to place, but the heart of the response is the same: practical care and dignity for people beginning to rebuild.
Your gift can help provide practical care.
This End of Financial Year, our goal is to raise $250,000 to help sustain this critical response. Your tax-deductible gift before 30 June will help provide essential support and dignity to people displaced by conflict, where even simple care can make the difference between despair and hope.
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift before 30 June.
Sudan is facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
Since conflict escalated in April 2023, millions of people have been displaced. According to UNHCR, by the end of 2024 more than 11 million people had been forcibly displaced inside Sudan, while more than 2.7 million Sudanese had fled to neighbouring countries.
Families have lost livelihoods, homes and access to basic care. Healthcare systems are overwhelmed, and children, older people and displaced families are carrying the heaviest burden.
Yet for many, Sudan has become a forgotten war.
For one mother, the crisis became deeply personal when her 21-year-old son suffered a severe spinal injury during the conflict. For seven months, she searched for help to fund the surgery he needed. She approached organisations, institutions and community groups, but again and again, no help came.
As medical costs grew and hope faded, the family faced the devastating possibility that the surgery may never happen.
That’s when OM’s local team in Sudan learned of their situation.
The team was able to help make the operation possible, while also supporting the family with accommodation and recovery-related costs. After months of fear and uncertainty, his mother said:
“For the first time in months, I felt that someone truly listened.”
Her son’s surgery opened a path toward recovery. But it also gave this family something they had almost lost: dignity, reassurance and hope.
For many Syrian refugees in the Middle East, displacement has become a long and difficult reality. After fleeing conflict and violence, many have now lived for more than a decade away from home. They are living in poor urban neighbourhoods where access to healthcare can be limited.
In these circumstances, a weekly clinic providing medical and psychological care can become one of the few places people know they can turn for help.
Through OM’s trusted partner in the Middle East, Syrian refugees can access this care, with follow-up support during the week. The team helps with acute medical needs and early intervention, addressing concerns that could otherwise lead to further complications.
Because the clinic provides regular care and follow-up, the team has been able to build trust with the people they serve. Over time, this has opened the door to support beyond the weekly clinic, including a regular youth club for young people from refugee families known through the clinic.
The group has been meeting since early 2023.
Leaders use discussion, drama, stories, songs and emotional literacy tools to help the young people reflect on their choices, understand what they are feeling and talk about how those things affect everyday life.
For young people who have grown up through years of displacement, the impact can go beyond not having a stable place to live. It can mean losing stability, community and a sense of who they are.
That is why a safe, trusted group can make such a difference for them. It gives them a place to be known, to talk about what they are feeling and to begin understanding how their choices affect the people around them. One boy shared:
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, OM teams have partnered with local churches to provide essential supplies and compassionate support to people whose lives have been devastated by conflict.
One of those people is Svetlana.
After an explosion severely injured her, Svetlana was transferred to a hospital in the city of Dnipro. There, she faced a life-changing reality: both legs had been amputated.
She faced a long road of surgeries and recovery. She was traumatised, alone, and unable to afford even the basic necessities she needed.
Desperate to help but too far away, her relatives contacted a local church supported by OM and asked if someone could visit Svetlana.
Church members began visiting her soon after.
With supplies provided by the local OM team, they brought food, new clothes, hygiene essentials and medicine.
They continued coming back, bringing what she needed and sitting with her through painful procedures and difficult days.
Overwhelmed by their kindness, Svetlana eventually asked:
“Why are you doing so much for me?”
The answer was simple. They were showing God’s love in a real and practical way to someone who needed help.
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