Below are photos contributed by our partners to illustrate their World Refugee Day 2003 events. For those using dial-up connections, please be patient as photos load.

Read more about the LIRS network's celebrations.

Lutheran Family & Community Services, New York
From left, Rufus Arkoi, Amela Muftarevic, Ron Drews, and LIRS Regional Consultant Can Le hold “Hands of Survival,” a creation of local refugee children.

Lutheran Services Florida (LSF), Tampa
(Back row, from left) James A. Wells, LSF president and CEO; the Rev. Ed Henley, pastor of St. Mark's Episcopal Church; and Sudanese refugee Salih Fator who arrived May 22nd. (Front, from left) four of the Fator children surrounding LIRS Regional Consultant Danielle Kearney; Fatima Fator holding the couple's youngest child; and Dr. Sultan, Iman from the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay, which joined with LSF and St. Mark's to resettle the Fator family.

LSF
Dzenana Hadzimesic, a former refugee who currently works with LSF as a refugee specialist, speaks at the World Refugee Day news conference about her struggle to escape war-torn Bosnia with her children. Others on the speakers' panel included, from left, Danielle Kearney; Jim Wells; Patricia Frederick, regional director for Catholic Charities; Brian Stepp, program specialist for Gulfcoast Jewish Services; and Michael Salas, director of World Relief's Victims of Torture Program.

LSF
Right, Salih and Fatima Fator are full of hope for a better future as they prepare to begin a new life raising their children in freedom.

Below, Toan Nguyen and Anh Nguyen, former refugees from Vietnam, read Mayor Pam Iorio's proclamation designating June 20 World Refugee Day in the City of Tampa.

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