Help Mercy Corps Turn Crisis Into Opportunity

In the aftermath of natural disasters and wars, children need help to make sense of what's happened. Our emergency-response teams lay the groundwork for emotional recovery in children by using two programs:

Comfort for Kids, developed in partnership with Bright Horizons Family Solutions, combines training for adults to help kids process trauma with an interactive workbook for children, which helps them tell their story of the disaster in a safe environment. Moving Forward promotes physical and emotional recovery through sports such as volleyball and soccer.

Here's how your incredible support helps Mercy Corps heal and rebuild lives for kids all over the world:

• After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and swaths of the U.S. Gulf Coast, we distributed 55,000 Comfort Kits to children that included school supplies and stuffed animals. We also helped rebuild playgrounds lost to the storm.
• New school supplies helped more than 9,000 children feel safe again in classrooms after the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, which caused school collapses that killed up to 10,000 students.
  
• Nearly 70% of the parents in Gaza said their children showed more optimism and fewer behavior problems after receiving emergency counseling from our teams in 2009, in the wake of Israel's Operation Cast Lead.
• In our largest response yet, Mercy Corps teams in Haiti trained parents, doctors, teachers and other caregivers to help 90,000 children overcome their fear after the 2010 earthquake.
  
• Mercy Corps brought play and art activities to 2,300 Japanese children after the March 2011 earthquake and resulting tsunami.
• In Yemen’s capital, Mercy Corps and partner UNICEF are providing safe spaces for children to learn and play, reclaiming schools that had become war zones.
  
• Our teams in the Central African Republic have recently expanded play therapy groups to reach more children displaced or orphaned by the terrorizing Lord's Resistance Army.
  

To learn more about how your support helps children in need, please click here to check out heartwarming photos from our new Comforting Kids Around the World photo essay.

Our most recent Comfort for Kids initiative is helping Syrian kids who have fled with their families to Jordan and Lebanon. We've built the only playground at Za'atari camp in northern Jordan. Even the refugee camp, far from the fighting, is a distressing place for children, who make up nearly half of the 20,000 refugees here.

Nine-year-old Amani, like most kids in the camp, wants to go home as soon as she can. “We had a happy home with four bedrooms and a nice living room and a garden. I had toys and clothes and there were parks nearby to play in. Now we have nothing.” 

But Amani’s face lights up as she plays. She tells her new friends that she wants to be a nurse when she grows up so she can help people in need. The playgrounds help brighten each day for her and best friend, Lyat, 11 years old, in otherwise harsh and bleak surroundings.

Your continued support allows Mercy Corps to help children like Amani and Lyat heal and recover from unimaginable trauma. Thank you. 

Links:

• Mercy Corps Website
• Photo Essay: Comforting Kids Around the World
• Comfort for Kids Stories

Exciting news…

We submitted three breathtaking photos from the field to GlobalGiving's annual photo contest, and two were chosen as finalists!  You may even recognize the photo below from our last progress report regarding our work in Afghanistan. Help us win $1,000 for our work simply by casting your vote by August 15^th!

Just by clicking a button, you can help make a difference in the lives of others. It’s incredible how an action so small can have such a big impact.

Voting is easy - vote once for both of these inspiring photos by entering your email address. Then, check your inbox for the confirmation email from GlobalGiving. Only upon confirmation will your vote be counted.

The photo with the most votes by noon EDT on August 15^th wins, so vote now!

Don’t forget to share that you’ve voted to help Mercy Corps on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Help us spread the word! 

Without people like you we would not have these heartwarming stories to share. Thank you so much for your continued support. 

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The photo above shows Santou Hamidou rejoicing in Niger. She received two goats from Mercy Corps in December 2011, and  now she can breed them. She’s been feeding her family with milk from the goats, and by selling the kids, she can buy more food for her six children. The hunger crisis across the region is worsening, but she has the means to lead her family through this hardship. Santou’s smile makes it clear: a little help can go a long way. 

Vote for the photo of the woman with her new goat!

Afghanistan is one of the world's toughest places to be a woman. Conflict and cultural repression have denied them education, careers, safety and equal rights. But Mercy Corps’ INVEST vocational training center in the Helmand province has enrolled more than 900 women who are learning English, computers, sewing, embroidery and calligraphy. The photo below shows one of these resilient women. 

Vote for the photo of the woman on the sewing machine! 

Links:

• Vote for "From poverty, to goats, to profits" photo
• Vote for "Education Against All Odds" photo