Moving Child Annual Report 2023
2023 was an eventful and moving year. With Ella Lattenkamp no longer part of the Moving Child team since the beginning of the year, we have reorganized ourselves.
In addition to Anna Schulz-Dornburg and Gertraud Leimstättner, Marcus Roth is now also a member of the management team – Gaby Barry-Randau is responsible for public relations. We feel strengthened for new challenges and were able to accompany and support our projects in the best possible way. Many intensive discussions and touching visits led to important decisions being made.
The Moving Child website has also been given a new look.
We are very pleased with the development of our supported projects in 2023
LAOS
For the 8th time now, we took part in the anniversary celebration of the Laos Friends Hospital for Children in Luang Prabang. Each time we are deeply touched by the immense amount of work and passion that the doctors, nursing staff and all employees put into the project. Last year, it was clear to see that the medical work is now being intensified. Since 2019, Moving Child has been supporting the hospital’s child health education program in particular. The sustainable concept of in-house teaching and educational events has fascinated us from the very beginning. The main aim of the education program is to strengthen the autonomy and independence of Laotian doctors and nursing staff. This paves the way for the hospital to be run by them alone from 2030.
NEPAL
2023 was a special year for Hands with Hands in Nepal, as the new earthquake-proof orphanage in the Annapurna mountain region near Pokhara was finally largely completed and occupied. The children and staff are beginning to settle in, and the new house is contributing to an even greater sense of solidarity and gratitude. Plans for the further expansion of the house and the improvement of conditions are beginning to take shape and the sun is shining in more ways than one.
GERMANY
We also used 2023 to visit our projects in Munich and Berlin, which gave us an in-depth insight into their day-to-day work. Video conferences and (information) events rounded off the closeness we seek and maintain with our projects.
AETAS – Children’s Foundation
Since 2021, Moving Child has been supporting the AETAS Children’s Foundation, which looks after children and young people after a traumatic event. It provides professional child crisis intervention in the form of acute counseling, regular counseling and group activities. The number of requests for support continued to rise sharply last year. In 2023, AETAS launched the “Changing Course” project with animated films, audio instructions, exercises and comics, assessment aids and recommendations for action, which are suitable for counseling, support and self-help in the context of crisis intervention.
Campus di Monaco – international Montessori school in Munich
The international Montessori school Campus di Monaco finally landed successfully in Neuperlach in 2022 in a bright and sustainable wooden school building. On 29.6.2023, the school opened its doors and invited the neighborhood and all interested parties from the urban community to attend the official inauguration and get to know the school and the many cultural education offers. The highlight was the ceremonial christening of the recreational boat on the roof. The support from Moving Child enables a trauma education learning workshop in which children and young people receive learning support that focuses on coping strategies and learning techniques due to trauma or stress. This enables help for self-help, which has a positive impact on the lives of over 300 children every year.
Care-for-Rare Foundation
In 2020, the Care-for-Rare Foundation set up the first Child Life Specialist team in Germany at the Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital in Munich. Since then, Moving Child has funded two Child Life Specialists (CLS) who provide psychological and social care for hospitalized children. In future, no seriously ill child should be denied comprehensive, psychosocial, educational and child-friendly care. The project is intended to have a beacon effect. As this is a scientifically supported model project, the results can also be transferred to other children’s hospitals.
Initiative krebskranke Kinder München e. V.
Moving Child supports a psychologist position for the Initiative krebskranke Kinder München e. V. in the pediatric cancer ward of the Munich Clinic Schwabing. In 2022, there were almost 80 new admissions to the pediatric oncology ward at München Klinik Schwabing. The still restricted visiting regulations due to the pandemic and the resulting increased isolation made everyday life at the clinic more difficult. Added to this is the staff shortage, which has worsened. This has placed a significant additional burden on staff, especially the psychosocial team. Psychological support is absolutely essential during the entire period of acute therapy (approx. 6 to 12 months), also because there are repeated crisis situations that are often life-threatening. Despite the good chances of survival, the entire path is always a tightrope walk that is fraught with great anxiety. The psychologist works systemically and focuses on the whole family.
„Mädchen an den Ball“ (“Girls kicking it”) – BIKU e. V., Munich
The Munich educational and cultural association (BIKU e.V.) organizes free soccer training with an integrative approach for girls with and without a migration background in the “Mädchen an den Ball” project. The girls interact and communicate through sport. This gives them new self-confidence and strengthens their social and intercultural skills. The aim is to give girls the opportunity to interact free from gender constraints and role models, and in doing so to shed external expectations. Moving Child will continue to support the Munich location financially until mid-2024.
Migration Bildung Kinder (MiBiKids) e. V. Freising
MiBiKids offers German language support for kindergarten children and pupils with a migration background. The aim is to support the children in their school career and thus increase their chances of a successful professional future. The courses will once again be fully booked in the 2023/24 school year. 37 active group leaders currently teach over 70 hours of German per week. This commitment continues to rest on the shoulders of the volunteers and is largely financed by donations. Moving Child has been supporting MiBiKids since 2020.
Netzwerk Geburt und Familie e. V. (Network Birth and Family)
Last year, an exceptionally large number of new women returned to the Moving Child-sponsored exercise program for long-term unemployed mothers offered by the Netzwerk Geburt und Familie association. Experience shows that the exercise programs make it easier for women to return to work. Some women are very overweight or suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, among other things. During our visits, we have also seen how committed everyone is to giving the women as much support as possible in dealing with their situation and coping better with their lives.
The exercise program also encourages the children to enjoy activities. Moving Child provides swimming passes and funds for excursions.
Paulihof – Kinderhilfe gGmbH, Kühbach (children’s aid)
The Paulihof is an inpatient curative-therapeutic residential group for traumatized children and adolescents, whose approach is based on healing education with animals. Moving Child was able to secure the care of the children and animals by co-financing the lease and animal meals. One of the young people did very well at school, which everyone is very proud of. Other highlights of the year were a vacation together in the Bavarian Forest and the annual Advent magic.
Quinoa Bildung gGmbH (education)
Quinoa Bildung gGmbH runs a private school in Berlin-Wedding with the specific aim of ensuring that all young people in Germany, regardless of their social and cultural background, are given the opportunity to complete their schooling and make progress. Since September 2020, Moving Child has been funding the “integrative learning therapy” pilot project, which is designed to develop individual learning plans and strengthen pupils’ self-reflection, motivation and self-efficacy. The learning support shows, for example, that 80% of pupils in the seventh grade have improved their spelling skills as a result of the activities co-developed and personally supported by the learning therapy team. In 2024, the Quinoa School will be celebrating its 10th anniversary and we are delighted with the positive developments.
Save the Children Germany e.V.
As in previous years, Moving Child also supported the work of Save the Children Germany in 2023. The work of Save the Children Germany includes funding measures in the areas of medical aid, nutrition, education and psychosocial support as well as child protection.
In addition to emergency aid for Ukraine, our special support in 2023 was aimed at providing urgently needed humanitarian aid for children and families from the Palestinian territories. Children in Israel and the Palestinian territories in particular are paying the highest price for the escalation of violence in the region. Save the Children plays a leading role among the aid organizations there, as it has been active in these areas for 50 years and is very well networked. All aid organizations are campaigning vehemently for a ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access. Many children in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and the West Bank are also being cared for in the aid shelters there. Access to the Gaza Strip continues to be extremely dangerous and highly emotional, but becomes more important with each passing day, as dangers such as famine, contaminated water and playing in war debris are constantly increasing.
NEW PROJECTS
In 2023, we began supporting two more impressive projects. One is the family center “Die Brücke” of the Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf Berlin and the other is MainLichtblick e. V. We are delighted to now be supporting these two projects as well!
In 2008, the association Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf Berlin e. V. opened the family center “Die Brücke” in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Today, parents, children and families in the district make use of the wide range of services on offer. “Die Brücke” is a meeting place. It offers space for exchange, information and advice for families and residents in the neighborhood. Moving Child supports a pedagogical specialist for the implementation of educational programs and a freelancer for language support.
MainLichtblick e. V. fulfils the personal wishes of sick, physically impaired and traumatized children and young people in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region. In 2023, over 400 wishes have already been fulfilled for over 3,000 participating children. Nevertheless, around 200 wishes remain unfulfilled. Moving Child helps to fulfill some of them, for example special therapies, therapy bikes, etc.
COMPLETED PROJECTS
With all those involved and supporters such as Moving Child, the House ANNA children’s hospice in Eichendorf was officially opened on September 8, 2023. With Haus ANNA Eichendorf, the AKM Foundation established the first (partially) inpatient children’s hospice with regular day, night and weekend care in the Lower Bavaria region. Haus ANNA will be a place of relief for families with a seriously ill child or young person. And a place to love and be safe and secure. Moving Child supported Haus ANNA in Eichendorf with a generous financial donation for the interior furnishings.
Moving Child also supported three projects of the Munich Outpatient Children’s Hospice Foundation (AKM) until the end of 2023: RUF24 (crisis intervention service), costs for trauma therapy, riding therapy, painting therapy etc. and child-friendly funerals.
The project of the Frauen Gesundheit Familie Zukunft (Women Health Family Future ) association in Bonn was also completed. The purpose of the association is the prevention of mental illnesses that can occur around childbirth. This includes individual and personal support during pregnancy, birth and early parental leave, especially for women, children and their families who are under psychosocial stress. The aim is to make it easier for families and their children to have a healthy and psychologically stable start in life. Moving Child supported the association in financing the counseling services.
While the “Mädchen an den Ball” (“Girls kicking it”) project of the Munich Education and Culture Association (BIKU e.V.) will continue at Moving Child’s Munich location until mid-2024, the funding of “Mädchen an den Ball” at the Bochum location has now come to an end.
Until January 2024, Moving Child also supported the Israeli Feldenkrais in Schools project, which was based on the operational Feldenkrais in Schools project in Berlin and Weimar, which was supported until April 2023. Moving Child was in contact with the head of the project, Dr. Eilat Almagor, in order to draw comparisons between the projects and learn from each other. The exchange focused in particular on comparing the evaluation questions for the two projects.
