A child’s smile in Romania. Tears from a Syrian refugee girl in Jordan. Children singing in Rwanda. World Vision photographers capture the spirit of World Vision’s work in 2013 — building better lives for children — in these 13 photos.
It’s impossible to stop singing and dancing after choir practice for these sponsored children in Rwanda. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Children, many of them sponsored, race around the school buildings at Lendikinya Primary School in Kisongo Makuyuni, a World Vision development area in Tanzania. Before World Vision began sponsorship in Kisongo Makuyuni, girls didn’t go to school. Now they learn, run, and play alongside the boys. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Porchea Archer, 20, takes a moment to read a book with her children in the on-site nursery in Chicago. Porchea and her two children came to New Moms in Chicago a few years ago. New Moms works with young mothers who want to acquire life skills necessary to parent their children and also to hold down a job. Through New Moms, Porchea got involved in their job skills program called Bright Endeavors. “I worked hard and it paid off,” Porchea says. World Vision supports New Moms by providing clothing, cleaning supplies, and hygiene supplies. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)
In Tabugan on north Cebu Island in the Philippines, children carry jugs of water through a maze of trees downed by Typhoon Haiyan. In November, Typhoon Haiyan’s strong winds and storm surge brought massive destruction to a widespread region of the Philippines central island group. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Crislyn Felisilda (orange and white vest), a World Vision staff member from the Philippines, wipes a tear as both she and Joy Monsales begin crying when Joy talks about the terror of Typhoon Haiyan and the hardships afterward. With them is Mel Aguilar (gray shirt), also a World Vision staff member from the Philippines. Together, they are checking on the condition of the Monsales family following Typhoon Haiyan’s destruction. The family’s home on north Cebu Island was destroyed by the typhoon, so her family built a temporary shelter from scrap iron sheets. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Children, who live with their mothers in a brothel in Bangladesh, walk across the street every day to learn, sing, and play at World Vision’s Child-Friendly Space. Here the children sing the national anthem with gusto. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Aloisi is digging a water pan, a hole in the ground that will change this family’s future. Once the rains come, he’ll have enough water to grow his crops again in this very dry area in Tanzania. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Once, Israa thought her life mattered. On the day of her final exam, warring factions destroyed her school in Syria, shattering her dreams of earning a high-school diploma. The 18-year-old remembers glass flying everywhere, hitting students in the face. Thousands of Syrian schools have been attacked or destroyed. The honor student now spends her time locked inside a tiny flat with at least 10 others in an impoverished section of Zarqa, Jordan. She says, “I want to return to Syria, my Syria, a free Syria.” (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
After an afternoon of reading, writing, and math, scores of children head back to their families in Irbid, Jordan, where World Vision funds a remedial school for 200 Syrian and Jordanian children. We also pay for transportation. For the children, the nearly two-hour class, offered three times a week, is the bright spot in their lives. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Abu, 13, of Sierra Leone received a goat from World Vision. When his family didn’t have money to pay for Abu’s secondary school, they were able to sell a goat to pay for his school fees. He currently has two goats. His father lives away from the family, and his mother Jenneh is the breadwinner for her five sons. The goats are a great help in caring for her family. Abu helps to care for the goats, like the one he holds here. He hopes to be a carpenter when he grows up. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Lindsey Minerva)
Scene of destruction on May 23 in Moore, Oklahoma. Kevin Lay was away from his home when the tornado struck. His wife was trapped in the closet of their home. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Lindsey Minerva)
A young boy exuberantly soars to the finish line during a Colordash 5K in St. Peter, Minnesota, as part of “Livestock,” a fundraising effort to buy items from the World Vision Gift Catalog. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Andrea Peer)
World Vision has recently started working in Vaslui, Romania, where people often can only find work as day laborers. Parents struggle to provide for their children, including warm clothing. Andrea Tiron must wear her clothes layered against the harsh Romania winters. The front door to her home has no glass, so a thin sheet of fabric covers the hole where the glass should be in an attempt to keep out the cold. Despite hardships her family faces, Andrea still is a little girl filled with joy. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)
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