These images were taken at the Oklahoma City Zoo with families who had experienced refugee situations and have been resettled in Oklahoma City with the assistance of The Spero Project.

The Spero Project is an organization “Welcoming resettled refugees by connecting our new neighbors to people, resources and learning opportunities that make Oklahoma City a place of belonging”. The organization assists families in refugee situations as they begin new lives in a new country and educate the community in the Oklahoma City area about these issues impacting people all over the world. These families have come to the US due to displacement from severe threat of their safety in their home country.

As found on their website:

“A refugee is a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reason of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

--1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

* The faces of these individuals are not shown here for safety reasons.