Sarah Farnsworth was one of AAE's first VLAs and is now an immigration lawyer in California. In this article, she shares her experience as a volunteer with the AILA Pro…
Topic: Special Topics: Women
Elena: inspiring others through her work
Written by Program Associate Laura Parker Published February 2014. Asylum Access empowers refugee communities by training key individuals so they can provide basic legal advice and facilitate civic engagement within…
Enabling entrepreneurialism among refugees in Tanzania
Imagine raising two children on less than $1 per day. This was one of the challenges Suzanne faced as a teenage mother. After witnessing the death of her parents at…
Barika’s Story
The following account was written as told to Asylum Access Thailand by Barika, a young woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She fled her home following relentless persecution due to…
Launching Refugee Women’s Support Groups in Bangkok
“At night I can hear my heart breaking.” This comment came from a single mother in our Iranian Women's Community Support Group, describing the grief she feels over the childhood…
A New Chapter in Refugee Women’s Empowerment in Tanzania
After months of planning, Asylum Access Tanzania launched its inaugural Women’s Empowerment Group on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, creating a peer support group where women could learn…
Empowering Refugee Women Survivors of Violence
I first attended the “Encuentros de Mujeres” (Meetings of Women) in August 2011, during my first weekend in Quito, Ecuador. I have long been interested in sexual and gender-based violence…
Amelia – A Refugee’s Testimony
This is not about money or means. I am an educated woman and I am looking for freedom. I don’t want to live in slavery. So I can live peacefully…
Maria’s Story
One year ago Maria came to the Asylum Access Ecuador office timid and unable to make eye contact with AAE staff. She came to appointments only at her father’s insistence…