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Los Patojos was created to give hope and dignity to the children and youth of Jocotenango. Our purpose is to prevent our children and youth from falling into lives of despair, poverty and violence. We are working toward this objective by being agents of change, using dialogue to resolve problems, rather than violence. We address the various issues these children face by engaging them in fine arts, journalism, ballet, break dancing, photography and music lessons. Through these activities their self-confidence, their pride and their hope for a better future grows incredibly. They learn valuable life skills, such as perseverance, team co-operation and dignity. They know they can aspire to achieve more than the lives they see around them. We are also now an approved school offering free education from Pre-Primary to Grade 7, with Grade 8 being added in 2017 and Grade 9 in 2018.

Our Mission: Missionvale Care Centre is an interdenominational, non-profit organization committed to providing quality care and support to improve the lives of the people of Missionvale through love, consultation, participation and self-development. We respond to the many needs of the people in the circumstances in which they live. Our Vision: To enter into the lives of the poor in their pain, loneliness and despair. To recognise that we have done nothing to deserve our prosperity, as they have done nothing to deserve their deprivation. To reach out a hand of solidarity, compassion and love, filled not with empty platitudes, but with food, medicine, learning and hope. To learn from the sick and the vulnerable, the great lessons of humility and simplicity. To learn from ourselves the limits of our charity and the boundaries of our selflessness. To know and believe that a Care Centre, within our city and within our hearts, is only the beginning, but a beginning where anything is possible. Our Objectives: To provide an essential health, social and spiritual service. To provide primary and pre-primary school education and other forms of educational development. To promote a stable and harmonious home and community environment. To develop a sense of pride and ownership in the people of Missionvale. To concentrate on the development of children, especially those orphaned and vulnerable. To use all the resources of the Care Centre to treat, alleviate and most importantly, prevent the scourge of HIV/AIDS. To consolidate the achievements of the last 24 years by becoming self-sustaining.

THE BLINDNESS FOUNDATION works in Burma/Myanmar,Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines & Thailand. Our mission is: "HELP US,HELP OTHERS, HELP THEMSELVES" -working with local eye Doctors in these SE Asian countries to help prevent & cure blindness. This is achieved through education, training and mission supply for outreach cataract surgery programs to the rural & urban poor . To date for example we have over the last two decades, contributed lens implants that have been implanted in over 65,000 patients' eyes to help them see again -curing their blindness. Ongoing training and education, upgrades the knowledge and skill -sets of young Eye Doctors in training so that they can treat their own people better, without reliance on outside Ophthalmologists. This builds their health care systems closer to modern world standards. We respond to specific requests for assistance in placing young Eye Doctors in residency & Fellowship programs out of country , Also supply of anti-fungals for the Burmese fishermen with corneal infections after the Nargis Cyclone hit the Irawaddy delta region of Myanmar. Our goal is sustainable self-sufficiency for eye care in these developing nations. We have annual missions that incorporate training & lectures at university based teaching hospitals where possible to assist their development. During these missions we process requests for equipment, traing and supplies and coordinate with industry in the US to raise supplies. Your funding helps develop the third world and truly ,you do ,indeed, "make a difference" Thank You, CHRISTOPHER LYON, MD PhD Director THE BLINDNESS FOUNDATION

Many people living in remote regions of Nepal do not have access to primary healthcare, medical treatment or rehabilitation services. Medical care is not free in Nepal and poverty is widespread. Our mission is to support and work with our project partner organisation (Nepal Healthcare Equipment Development Foundation (NHEDF), an organisation that was set up after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, to improve health outcomes and provide opportunities for people who experience life changing injuries or illness but cannot access medical and rehabilitation services due to poverty. Together we help rebuild physical and emotional health, self-reliance, dignity and confidence and change the lives of people who have no one else to turn to and nowhere else to go. We provide funding that pays the wages of three nurses and a physiotherapist, and also funds medical and surgical intervention, pharmaceutical products and medical supplies to patients at NHEDF's Shelter as funds allow. The amount of support we can give is directly related to the number of donations we receive. We also work with our clinical staff to provide ongoing professional development and educational opportunities as appropriate. We are an Australian not-for-profit organisation registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) which gives us accountability and transparency with our Government, our donors and the general public. We were established at the end of 2016. We have two projects under the umbrella of our organisation and our NHEDF Shelter project is the main part of our work. We also accept referrals for women with obstetric fistula and are working with NHEDF to introduce an initiative called Circles of Hope which will provide opportunities for skills training and possible temporary employment for NHEDF patients manufacturing washable reusable sanitary products and incontinence pads specifically made for women with fistula. NHEDF used to be a not-for-profit organisation that repaired and recycled medical technology but after the April 2015 earthquake that devastated the lives of many in Nepal, this all changed. The Director, a wonderful man called Samrat Basnet, removed all the medical technology from the premises and took in patients when they were discharged from hospital way too early to make room for more. Samrat also engaged volunteer doctors, nurses and a volunteer physiotherapist and NHEDF became a medical Shelter, housing people instead of biomedical equipment and providing free medical and nursing care and rehabilitation services to people whose lives were changed by injury as a result of the earthquake. NHEDF had tremendous support both from the local community within Nepal and internationally. Samrat never dreamed that the project would be permanent - he thought he would 'shut up shop' a few months after the quake, and he could go back to being a biomedical engineer again, but patients kept coming. To this day hospitals, community organisations, other not-for-profit organisations in Nepal and individuals, especially nursing and medical staff continue to refer more patients to NHEDF than they can accept. Today, NHEDF's patients may not have earthquake related injuries (though we still have one patient who was injured in the 2015 quake) but they all have experienced trauma, illness and injury requiring rehabilitation and cannot access medical care due to poverty. NHEDF has a Shelter - a rented house - which is located in Kathmandu and this 14 - 20 bed facility provides free accommodation, food, medical intervention, physiotherapy, rehabilitation services and around-the-clock nursing care to as many patients as it can fund in a family centred environment. Everything at the Shelter is completely free thanks to the generosity of ours and NHEDF's donors. Life in Nepal is tough and life for someone with a disability in Nepal is even tougher as people with a disability are generally not treated kindly or compassionately in Nepal. Usually patients are referred to NHEDF following a lengthy expensive hospital stay, however sometimes patients come prior to embarking on this journey of navigating the complexities of medical care in Nepal. Either way, NHEDF finds the most suitable hospital in Kathmandu for investigations, specialist appointments and further surgery as required. Should surgery be required, they are transferred back to NHEDF as soon as they are well enough. Some patients stay only a couple of weeks; others' months, and the occasional patient 1 - 3 years as individual roads to rehabilitation are often long. Our NHEDF Shelter patients have all sorts of diagnoses resulting from trauma/injury/illness. Diagnoses range from fractures, soft tissue injury, amputations, wounds, burns, burns contractures, head injuries, neurological conditions and obstetric fistula. Some of our patients may have bone cancer requiring an amputation, extensive rehabilitation and the fitting of unusual prostheses. Occasionally Samrat accepts a patient who is terminally ill who is simply kicked out of hospital because they cannot pay any more and would otherwise be simply left to die. Patients are either referred or simply picked up from hospital foyers where they are found begging for money to pay for their medical care or that of a loved one. Almost all of NHEDF's patients come from remote regions which are severely lacking in funding, health and medical care. Most larger villages have a clinic staffed by a Health Assistant who has done two years of training and can dispense 35 different medications and do basic wound care and vaccinations, but their medical knowledge is poor. There are often no hospitals for anywhere up to a 2 - 3 day walk, or over the years, dirt roads have paved the way for lengthy rough journeys on a local bus. These hospitals may only have rudimentary services - they often do not have operating theatres, anaesthetists, surgeons or anaesthetic machines, or staff who can use them. Investigative technology and ancillary services like pathology are often basic or non-existent. Many people travel to major cities like Kathmandu to access medical care, and for many varied and complex reasons (including corruption) end up paying a fortune for their medical care. Many of our patients come to NHEDF after a lengthy history with the Nepalese medical system, and some of our patients have spent as much as US$20,000 - $22,500 on medical bills. We have not made a mistake with this figure and put too many zeros in - this figure is correct despite Nepal being coming between 27th and 30th poorest countries in the world and having up to 25% of its population living below the poverty line. Some of our patients are injured working overseas usually in Malaysia or the Gulf and are sent back to Nepal after initial treatment with no compensation. Also, there is no such thing as workers compensation in Nepal. All their savings from working overseas end up going on medical bills. The Government may provide a disability allowance if certain criteria are met, but this is approximately the equivalent of US $44 a month and many hurdles are put in the way which makes it difficult to even apply. As most of our patients come from rural and remote regions they have often sold all or most of their land which has been in their family for generations in order to pay their medical bills. Other patients keep a small parcel and home is a shack or a tent. Many women with fistula live in desperate poverty having been abandoned by their families. They cannot seek medical attention because they are poor; because knowledge of fistula in Nepal is poor; their injury is often not recognised; they are marginalised, socially isolated, often living in stables or caves having been abandoned by their family and ostracised by their community. Many of our patients are in debt to family, money lenders and/or their local community and some of our patients are suicidal when they come to NHEDF. All are in desperate circumstances. Many are unable to return to their pre-injury employment because of their disability, hence the Circles of Hope initiative which will support NHEDF's efforts to help patients help themselves once their rehabilitation is complete. This pilot program will eventually provide skills training and employment opportunities for both NHEDF and fistula patients and help them help themselves. NHEDF will establish a small workshop at the Shelter, manufacturing washable, reusuable, incontinence products which will be donated to NHEDF patients and women with fistula, and also sold in medical supply shops and other outlets initially in Kathmandu and then further afield. Women with fistula, some of NHEDF's patients and many other people in Nepal need incontinence products and none are available other than expensive disposable ones which are only sold in major towns and cities and cost $0.80 - $1 per pad. Our project addresses many articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and we are non-discriminatory; support children, women and men of all ages, castes, religions and ethnic groups; help alleviate poverty; improve health; support people with disabilities; improve access of people with a disability to earn an income; promote dignity, independence, self-respect and advance personal, social and economic well-being.

ASYLUM PROTECTION CENTER (APC) was founded in 2007 and from the very beginning of the asylum system in Serbia (2008) has been providing legal, psychosocial and interaction/integration aid to exiles, asylum seekers and persons who have been granted asylum or other protection in the Republic of Serbia (with special focus to children and youth- providing legal, psychosocial, interaction/integration aid to minors, unaccompanied minors and youth). Activities of the APC as grass root organization are reflected through our strong presence and engagement at local levels in local communities, in order to establish a dialogue and interaction between asylum seekers/refugees/exiles and local citizens; primarily through the organization of public local events, exhibitions, fairs, asylum corners, interaction/integration, creative and other workshops, round tables, work of APC local networks of volunteers and APC interns, cultural mediators support and other events and activities in local communities, as well as through numerous collaborations with local governments, organizations, institutions, schools, local cultural and youth centers. APC political scientists and researchers actively work in the field of research and advocacy, using extensive APC experience and field data, in order to get to the root of issues and problems of the migration, asylum system and refugees, strengthening and spreading information to the wider general and local public and experts, advocating and fighting to reduce prejudice and xenophobia in local and general public thus building more tolerant and inclusive society in Serbia. Since its founding, lawyers, psychologists, pedagogues, social workers and translators that make up the APC/CZA team have worked first hand with the refugees and migrants in the first asylum centers. Since the opening of the Balkan route, our team can be found across all reception and transit centers, parks, buses, railways stations, at improvised shelters in open air surroundings by the border, in suburbs, on the streets, in forests and in institutions for youth. We have reunified families, discovered smuggling routes and found children who had been lost. Our team continues to protect persons from discrimination and violence, while simultaneously reporting abuse that are endured by vulnerable groups of migrants and refugees. With the help of Social work centers we have placed children in foster families, enabled the healthy births of children, provided birth certificates for refugee babies born in Serbia and reunified children with their families we have ultimately helped wherever we could. APC/CZA has established one of the first mobile applications in Europe - "Asylum in Serbia", providing not only all necessary basic information, placing mechanism tools for reporting abuse in the hands of migrants and refugees, that are necessary in their journey's through the country, or their long term stays in Serbia. With tireless legal assistance and interpretation of regulations, we managed to provide health care (primary, secondary and tertiary protection) to asylum seekers who should receive care equal to the rights of Serbian citizens. In cooperation with local communities in Bogovadja and Lajkovac, the APC/CZA team, as early as 2012 began enrolling the children of asylum seekers into the Serbian educational system, in both elementary and secondary education institutions. We currently continue with this practice and as a result of our engagement with children who attend elementary school in Belgrade, Krnjaca, Sjenica and Tutin, they are able to receive full-time education, have become excellent and thoroughly satisfied students. We are the first in Serbia to have begun the integration process of refugees and asylum seekers in the country- by assisting them to find work, accommodation, the obtaining of documents, ease in overcoming psychological problems and adaptation problems that may have resulted due to their new environment surroundings, regulations, mentality and the culture in Serbia. We have managed to validate and recognize the first pages of diplomas for those who received asylum in Serbia. We provided the first work permits for more than 40 asylum seekers and those who received asylum and established a legal practice enabling and ensuring them with the right to work. Furthermore, APC/CZA also led disputes before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in order to protect people from illegal deportations from Hungary and Serbia and managed to ensure fair and equitable proceedings before the competent institutions. Over the past ten years, we have legally informed more than 220,000 migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, about their rights and obligations in the country in which they are located. We lawfully advised more than 23,600 asylum seekers and represented them in asylum and other proceedings, as well as before Misdemeanor, Administrative, Constitutional Courts and other instances. Our psychologists advised and empowered more than 7,000 asylum-seekers and refugees who needed help - through social assistance, and workshops, we advised more than 3900 asylum seekers. We have held over 937 different workshops (cultural, creative, empowering, health, language, school preparatory, and integration, psychological) with more than 4000 asylum seekers taking part in our activities. We have crossed over 400,000 kilometers with our mobile teams across Serbia. Our web pages were visited by more than 180,000 different people this year alone. During the 2015 refugee crisis, the Center had legally advised more than 110 000 refugees, more than 31 000 children and more than 30 000 women. APC / CZA has trained and taught practices of how to work with children and vulnerable groups, to more than 100 interns and young professionals from the country and abroad. APC / CZA has the first and only accredited training programs for social workers in the social welfare system as well as an accredited training program for professional staff in the education system in the field of migrant / asylum / refugee work with a special emphasis on minors. We have built a volunteer network with over 170 volunteers. Today in Serbia there is no other organization working with refugees where one of its employees has not undergone training, professional development or had a job at with Asylum Protection Center. We are particularly proud of our work related to informing the local community about refugees and migrants - people who have fled from war, persecution, poverty, who have come from various cultures, while at the same time informing the migrants about Serbian culture, customs and the rules of their new environment surroundings. With all of what we have done and of course what has been done by the state and its institutions, who have a primary duty to manage and care about migration, enough has yet to be done to confidently say that the situation with refugees in Serbia is at a good place. Currently there are far more than 5000 migrants in Serbia, of which up to 4000 are housed in reception centers, while others are in the open, in forests, in suburbs, abandoned buildings or in alternative accommodation. The Balkan route is formally closed, but dozens of people continue to enter the country from Bulgaria and Macedonia every day, while in Vojvodina the largest number has accumulated near the borders of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Illegal deportation of people from Croatia, Hungary and Romania to Serbia is a continuous and illegal practice, and people have been illegally pushed back to Serbia, even in instances when they had not previously travelled through the country. This brings Serbia into the position of becoming a buffer zone for migration and as a new hotspot on the migration route, which ultimately leads to extensive and far-reaching consequences for the future. The longer retention of these people in Serbia and their increasingly difficult transition into EU countries, if that is their goal, requires a change in approaching this problem. Migrants currently have difficulty accessing accommodation and asylum procedures, and registration. They are violated of their fundamental rights as asylum seekers in fair and fast procedures, free legal aid, freedom of movement. This places a vulnerable group of people who are often exposed to abuse and violence more and more, in situations of prejudice and prevents integration and interaction with the local environment, and community while promoting the use of smuggling and crime. These circumstances require a greater engagement by our organization in informing migrants and providing legal protection to asylum seekers and refugees in proceedings before all institutions, bodies and courts of the Republic, as well as monitoring the application of regulations and behavior on the ground through the process' of border monitoring and abuse. It is very important that our organization keeps its independence, professional and objective approach to problems, while continuing to cooperate with the media to objectively inform citizens and the public while continuing our fight against prejudice and disinformation. APC / CZA will continue to train and provide professional practices for young professionals with its accredited training programs for civil servants while working intensively with local communities. APC / CZA will furthermore continue its engagement in the integration of those who have received asylum in Serbia, as well as in supporting the system itself and pushing for the improvement of existing practices, and cooperation in the region. As well, our team will work with secular organizations at the European level who will also be a priority in the fight against prejudices, and in raising public awareness of these problems, in building solidarity and permanent networks of cross-border cooperation between organizations in Europe.