The past few weeks have been crazy here at Photocircle – you know, the good kind. Project after project got finished, and so we’ve been able to support victims of human trafficking in the USA, disbaled children in Bosnia & Herzegovina, refugees on the Mediterranean, flood victims in Myanmar and socially disadvantaged youth in Germany. Meet our projects 43 – 47:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

With €500, we helped the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement support the more than 1 million people affected by the severe floods and landslides of last summer in Myanmar. About 500 staff members and volunteers of the Red Cross were carrying out evacuations as well as providing first aid, relief supplies and clean water. Additionally, they were providing people with essential household items, hygiene packages, tents and cash.

With your help, Photocircle and Schüler Helfen Leben were also able to support the creation of a positive image of physically and/or mentally challenged people in Bosnia & Herzegovina: in creative workshops, children with and without disabilities meet and learn to overcome prejudice and contact anxieties in a playful manner. €450 covered the costs for materials, snacks, travel expenses and supervisors’ salaries.

With €1,000, the SZ project “Student Lunch” provided children in the South of Germany with a free hot meal at school and in childcare facilities. Many pupils from low-income families miss lunch at school as their parents aren’t able to pay for the arising costs: €60 or more a month. The poor are not only excluded from lunch, but also from afternoon care, for which participating in lunch is a prerequisite.

With €900, we provided education for survivors of human trafficking in the USA. It is estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 minors are trafficked in America every year. Amongst these, the average age is 12 years. Because so many people are trafficked at a young age, many A21 survivors enter their care desiring an education they never had the chance to receive. And when a survivor has an education, she is more qualified for a job and confident in her skills and abilities. A job leads to financial stability, which lessens, if not eliminates, her chance of being trafficked again.

With €500, we helped Sea-Watch patrol the Libyan coast and look for refugees in distress in order to administer first aid in case of need (medical assistance, provision of drinking water, food, life jackets and life rafts); advocate for the rights of refugees; inform the authorities and wait until help arrives; and report on the the situation on the ground. Their measures always correspond with international guidelines and are approved by the responsible rescue authorities.