In societies that are burdened with poverty and a culture of violence, a garden can bring deeply needed respite into a child's life. A Child's Garden of Peace works to provide safe opportunities for children to reconnect with the natural world, even in extremely urbanized neighborhoods.
Asociación Vivir was founded in 1987 with the fundamental objective of working to promote health from a more human and integral perspective that allows individuals and communities to participate proactively in their health and well-being.
Publicly funded vision screening for children, which is standard in Europe and North America, is unknown in much of the rest of the world. Moreover, the cost of an eye exam and corrective lenses is unaffordable for poor families in underdeveloped countries. Children's Vision Project provides eye exams and glasses for low income Bolivian children with poor eyesight.
FundaciónEl Refugio is a
project for the prevention of social problems (drug-addiction, alcoholism,
prostitution, sale of psycho-active substances, violence and
abuse etc.) for young people in marginalised areas, through jewellery-making workshops and social training.
Fundación Amanecer (“Sunrise”) era Armenia, Colombia was founded in 1991 to develop programs,
projects and activities in the areas of social, community, cultural and
enterprise development.
The Fundacion Educativa Amor
in Soacha, on the outskirts of
Bogota,
Colombia, has
provided primary and secondary education for students from poor families since
1988.
The mission of Fundación Despertar is to promote reading as a tool for personal growth and empowerment in the rural schools of the San Alberto Department (Córdoba- Argentina). The vision is to have rural schools that center their educational program on the human development of each child and seek a profound sense of equality and social justice.
Working as educators with the indigenous community in Saraguro, Jose Maria Vacacela and Gabriela Uraida Vacacela began
to prepare the indigenous curricular project called UEAITIS (Unidad Educativa
Experimental Activa Intercultural Trilingüe Inka Samana).
The SINTRAL Network of Ecuador focuses on both human and economic development. Economic issues include providing adequate and healthy food through organic agriculture, conservation of farmland, provision of clothing and housing, natural medicine and commerce through alternative economy.
A project in Argentina that has been working since 2001 in various ways to support the development of community and the welfare of children and families. Since 2005 Tierraviva has focused its activities on working with women and children in prisons through arts, self-esteem and human rights training.
Usaha Mulia Abadi (UMA) has two purposes; one of being a Subud Centre for all
our brothers and sisters from around the world and secondly of being a non-
profit organization that cares about the development of the community. San
Miguel Atlautla is a marginalized area with a high index of poverty where 57%
of the population lives from agriculture and 12% is illiterate.
Benita and Silverio Gavilán live in the verdant dormitory town
of
Fernando de la Mora,
just outside Asunción.From here they
have been implementing child-centred projects since 1997. Just a few kilometres from their home lies Asunción’s Gross Market
(Mercado de Abasto) where the Gaviláns’ project, the Vida Plena Foundation,
runs a day centre for children between the ages of 3 and 14 whose parents are
absent – either working abroad or at work all day. The children are often from
single-parent families, and many are looked after by grandparents or other
relatives. In the daytime, when they are not at school, which is either in the
morning or in the afternoon, these children have nowhere to go.