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Above: Peter Braima gives his son, Moses, a haircut with a safety razor at their home in Manjama village, near Bo, Sierra Leone, in 2014, while their new, insecticide-treated mosquito net airs out behind them. The nets were provided by The United Methodist Church's Imagine No Malaria campaign.

As we head into another greeting card weekend filled with images of dads with leisure time and hamburgers to burn this Father’s Day, we’d like to take a few moments to remind ourselves that fathers from all over the world and all walks of life have dreams for their children and deserve to be celebrated.

Dear God, we give thanks for all the fathers and father figures who want only the best for their sons and daughters, who give of themselves daily so that their children may have the chance for a better life.

Jose Antonio Marchas Novela recounts the threats of violence that caused him to flee Mexico with his wife, Irlanda Lizbeth Jimenez Rodriguez, and their 1-year-old son, Jose Antonio. The family took shelter at the Christ United Methodist Ministry Center in San Diego in 2018, while seeking asylum in the U.S.
A father helps his son with basic hygiene at a makeshift camp in the municipal soccer stadium in Leogane, Haiti, following the 2010 earthquake. Many families were sleeping under tarps in the open soccer field because they were afraid their damaged homes would collapse during an aftershock.
John Amara tries to cool his son’s fever with a makeshift fan at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital outside Freetown, Sierra Leone in 2010. Henry Peter Amara, 16 months, was suffering from malaria, which is common and often fatal among children in the impoverished neighborhood that Kissy serves.
The Rev. Eric Pridmore leaves Goodman Memorial United Methodist Church in Cary, Miss., with his daughter Mary Ruth and Gene, his Seeing Eye dog, following morning worship in 2004.
The Rev. Bill Jenkins, gives the sermon during worship at Exodus United Methodist Church In San Diego while holding his son Harry, who is from Haiti, in 2018.
Jesús, a migrant from Michoacán state in Western Mexico, tries to shield his 1-year-old daughter, Kataleya, from a cold drizzle falling at the tent encampment where they are living at the foot of the Paso del Norte Bridge in Juárez, Mexico, in 2019. The family, who fled their home due to street violence, has been living in the makeshift camp just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, for two months while waiting their turn to seek asylum in the U.S.
Jordan Haney holds his 8-month-old daughter, Jordyn, during worship at John Wesley United Methodist Church in Nashville, in 2022.
Carlos Ivan Baran Hidalgo (right) and his wife, Danelly and daughter, Scarlett, pray with the Rev. Joel Hortiales at the Camino de Salvación shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, in 2021. The family fled violence in Guatemala and is hoping to pursue a claim for asylum in the U.S. Hortiales is a United Methodist missionary.
The Rev. Britt Gilmore helps keeps the children entertained while his wife, Alison prepares dinner. The Gilmores were serving as United Methodist missionaries in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2012.
The Rev. Isaac Broune introduces his son, Jason Mike, to visitors in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in 2015. Broune serves as French news director for UM News and is an elder in the Côte d'Ivoire Conference of The United Methodist Church.
UM News photographer Mike DuBose learns to work in the darkroom from his father, Carus DuBose, at their home in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in the mid 1960s. The elder DuBose was a metallurgist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and an accomplished amateur photographer.