A turbulent year is coming to an end. The world is changing, and we all need to stop and think for a moment. In particular, the war in Ukraine, the still ongoing pandemic, and their effects on the financial market have had a major impact on the work carried out by foundations. Moving Child is no exception, and we too must deal with the changed financial situation. Above all, this means less financial certainty and increased planning insecurity in the coming years. Despite all this, we are delighted that we were able to continue financing all ongoing projects this year and even to support two additional projects. In this year’s end of term report, we would like to recall a few special highlights of the past year.

A particular highlight for us was, as always, the personal contact with the children for whom we finance school fees in Laos and Thailand. It is something very special and heart-warming to see how small children develop into independent personalities and perceive the world with more and more finesse. We are very fortunate to be able to take part in their academic and especially their personal growth, and the close contact with the sponsored children and their parents was a great treat for us this year.

Another project close to our hearts is also located in Laos: the Laos Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) in Luang Prabang. Since 2017, we have been supporting the Laotian children’s hospital of the Friends Without A Border association. We visited the hospital in person this year and met the new director of the hospital. During a tour of the hospital, we visited the new intensive care unit. In the intensive care unit, seriously and life-threateningly ill children and premature babies are treated. It was incredibly touching to see the little beings in the incubators fighting their way into life with all their might. The hospital’s reputation is well known, and infants are often brought from far away for treatment. The doctors and nurses at the hospital do a fantastic job under difficult conditions. However, the atmosphere at the hospital is very nice and a survey last year showed that over 90% of the staff are very happy to work there. The training program for Laotian doctors, which has been financed by Moving Child since the end of 2019, also continued well despite the Corona situation.

This year was also marked by two big moves! The international Montessori school “Campus di Monaco” in Munich was finally able to move into its new school building this year and the new school year began on the beautiful new site. The new wooden building has a great atmosphere and offers much more space and opportunities for more than 300 students. In addition, the completion of the new buildings of the Annapurna Children’s Home in Nepal entered its final phase this year. The move to the new building was planned for this summer, but the shortage of building materials and a strong monsoon delayed construction by a few months.

As in the previous year, we supported the organization Save the Children Germany. This time our special focus was on their aid project in Ukraine and supporting the children who have been affected by the war that has been raging since February. About 7.5 million children in Ukraine are at risk of homelessness, displacement, and psychological and physical harm. Important facilities such as schools and hospitals have been destroyed. We support Save the Children so that children in Ukraine can receive essential humanitarian aid. This includes, among other things, the provision of food, water, hygiene kits and safe places for the children.

Since 2004, the Munich Ambulatory Children’s Hospice Foundation (AKM) has looked after families with terminally and life-threatening ill newborns, babies, children, young people and adults in all of Bavaria, as well as seriously ill parents with minors in the household. Moving Child has been supporting the foundation financially since last year, but our commitment goes beyond just financial aid. The strong desire to use their strength and resources to help families in crisis situations and to offer support has accompanied the two Moving Child managing directors Anna Schulz-Dornburg and Gertraud Leimstättner for a long time. In August of this year, the two completed their training as volunteers at the AKM crisis intervention service (RUF24). The RUF24 is a free 24/7 service from the AKM Foundation, where those affected can take advantage of telephone or personal advice in exceptional crisis situations. This offer gives people support and stability in stressful situations. We are proud to be part of the RUF24 team and to contribute to this important work.

Another exciting project of the AKM Foundation, which we particularly supported this year, is the project “House ANNA“. House ANNA is a (partly) inpatient children’s hospice that aims to close the gap between outpatient and inpatient care. While fully inpatient facilities represent a temporary alternative to outpatient care and relieve families of everyday life stresses, semi-inpatient offers are always a complementary relief to everyday life chores. The opening of four houses is planned, whereby the first house ANNA (in Eichendorf, Lower Bavaria) is already under construction and is scheduled to open in summer 2023. Moving Child supported House ANNA in Eichendorf this year with a large financial donation for the interior design.

Of course, a lot has happened in all of the projects we support over the last year. You can read more about the developments in the individual projects on our website. We would like to thank all projects for the wonderful cooperation this year. Of course, we would also like to thank in particular all donors for their trust and support! We wish you a good and healthy start into the new year!

Sincerely, your Moving Child Team