“I saw how displacement can affect almost every aspect of a person’s life”.

Every year, PHRI’s Open Clinic for Status-less Individuals in Jaffa assists some 1,500 people who share one thing: they live in Israel yet aren’t Israeli citizens or residents, and therefore cannot access the country’s public healthcare system. Beyond that shared experience, their backgrounds and life stories vary widely: they come from dozens of countries and cultures, and their migration paths differ. Many of them are asylum seekers who cannot return home, where their lives might be at risk. For some, home is on the other side of the planet, while for others, it’s a few dozen kilometers away.

“Sometimes I meet people who are afraid to come out of the shadows and seek help. I remember a Palestinian woman who gave birth… at home, not by choice ...