Facebook to provide vital service in refugee camps. Hats off.

To refugees internet is almost as important as water. Facebook is helping.

Imagine having to flee thousands of miles away from your home, in order to ensure your own and your family’s safety. Then imagine having to try and connect with those left behind, to tell them that you’re safe, and to make sure that they are, too. 

While internet access is still hard to come by for two-thirds of the world’s population, many Syrian refugees rely on mobile phones to connect to family and friends. 

Now, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the social network will be teaming up with the United Nations to provide free internet access across the U.N.’s refugee camps. 

While we don’t know the when or where of the situation, it’s likely that Facebook’s Free Basics service, or their internet planes, will be involved somehow.