When people think of Argentina, they generally don’t know that Argentina has one of the world’s worst relative poverty rates. El Sauce is an obsolete lime quarrying town 50 km from Córdoba. The 85 families living in the neighbourhood are without drinking water, street lighting, a health care centre, or ready public transport. We’re helping their self-reliance by supporting a community centre for creative activities, vocational development, legal and health advice, and community cooperation.

Extremes of poverty are a reality in urban and rural Argentina. Vía Diagonal Norte lies10 kilometres from San Miguel de Tucumán in Argentina’s far north-west. The Garganta Poderosa Neighbourhood Assembly helps 100 poor families who have no basic services, and whose homes frequently flood. This Assembly organised itself to build a community based on mutual support, solidarity, self-management and organisation, and we’re helping them to refurbish a donated community space.

Mujeres de la Tierra (Women of the land) is a new cooperative fighting violence and discrimination in rural areas, and building the economic capacities of rural women, especially the indigenous. It disseminates information, and promotes small-scale rural production, agroecology, reforestation, human rights, and enterprise, all while helping with practical things like tools. Planet Humana is providing funds to renovate a dedicated space In Buenos Aires.

Madre Tierra has worked since 1985, with an interdisciplinary team specialised in architecture, social work, legal and administrative advice, education and popular communication. Planet Humana is supporting the installation of basic sewerage for 20 insecure families in the poor Manantiales neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

With poverty comes trafficking for sexual exploitation. Since 2002 the volunteer-driven Alameda Foundation has been working to raise awareness of human trafficking and related crimes, and to directly interrupt the trafficking of women. In its early days it even worked with Cardinal Bergoglio, today’s Pope Francis. Planet Humana will fund an awareness-raising drive which hopes to reach many thousands of people in the next 6 months across Argentina.

In East Timor, we’ve funded part of an STD programme serving thousands of people in one of the poorest nations on earth. Australia has a special relationship with East Timor, and the Australian government is extending a Human Papilloma Virus vaccine programme throughout Pacific neighbours to prevent girls from acquiring the cancers which HPV can produce (every Australian girl is vaccinated at 12). We think this is a “good neighbour” initiative.

Gaza is on everybody’s lips, and whatever the politics, the impact on children is plain. Gordon had last been in Gaza during the Second Intifada, so we relied on an aid worker friend who was there during this most recent bloodbath to attest to the good work of Atfaluna, a children’s charity for the deaf working since 1994. The context of every war is very different, but we assessed this as a modest but trustworthy way to reach children in the “fog of war.”

Our dam in Kamutekeo provides year-round water for drinking and agriculture to a village of more than 1,000 people. Instead of fetching water, women and children have time for school, employment, and their own well-being – knowing they have year-round water for crops. In time, the reservoir will green the surrounding area, building the eco-system which supports all of life. A friend of ours had already funded dams, so we knew it was a good bet for our first ever project.

The school we fund in Mathare, Nairobi, supports a staff of 16, the education of 350 children, and frees up the parents for employment. These kids are mostly the children of paperless immigrants, and their status excluded them from ever going to a state school. Some will go on to graduate to high school and beyond. This school’s survival is brittle because it falls within an area targeted for slum clearance, but still they teach every day.

We funded the shipment and storage of approximately $500,000 worth of medical equipment to a new maternity hospital in Masai Mara, serving a catchment of 400,000 people. Tourists see the beautiful game parks, but don’t necessarily see the poverty and lack of basic services (such as ant-natal care) available to the very people who guide them. A friend sourced the durable medical equipment in the US.

Never under-estimate the deep, lasting, multi-generational impact of war. We landed in Sri Lanka the day before its recent election, and gave funding to Bridging Lanka, a group reaching across ethnic lines on Mannar Island. It is truly holistic, taking its cues from community needs, and responding in real time to things like nutrition, education, youth employment, drug abuse, violence, and the environment. One of the world’s important stopovers for migrating birds, Mannar’s fragile environment which also supports humans is under threat.

“Forest Glades” is a psycho-trauma rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Kyiv. It treats around 4,000 troops and civilians per year suffering brain injuries as a result of torture in Russian captivity, or multiple concussive blasts on the frontlines. We fund the caseworkers who manage the treatment of all these men and women who will one day return to their homes to begin the painful re-building of Ukraine, and who will have to re-adjust to very different lives.

Our part-funding of the Kyiv Institute for Rehabilitation helps support the 100+ maimed civilians and former troops who attend each day. Treatment is hugely expensive for people who have lost one or more limbs, and who suffer other associated injuries like disfigurement, loss of sight or hearing or sensation. These people will return to their loved ones in time, involving huge adjustments for families and their communities.

UAnimals rescues and treats and advocates for animals throughout Ukraine, and is a major force in the fight against the ‘ecocide’ caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (such as the mass killings of the Black Sea dolphins). We part-funded the veterinary services for domestic and farm animals near the frontlines, partly because people who are confronted by abandoning their animals often choose to stay with them.

Special needs children have relatives fighting in the war. We part-funded a summer camp for these children and young adults. It was a small investment for us, but these three weeks made a huge difference for the children and young adults, their carers, and added peace of mind for their relatives forced to defend Ukraine. The sign of a compassionate democratic society is just how well it cares for its weakest members.

Hell’s Kitchen is an entirely volunteer (local and foreign) kitchen providing more than 1,000 meals a day to frontline medical staff, first responders, and vulnerable civilians like the blind and elderly in the Kharkiv region. They’ve made more than 2 million meals in the thousand days this terrible war has lasted. They’re impact on huge numbers of people fighting Russian aggression is inestimable – but never under-estimate a hot meal or a loaf of bread.

AID-46 is first response when missiles strike apartment buildings in Kharkiv. Our funds are used for vehicle repairs, equipment, medical supplies and miscellany for this team of young volunteers who get there even before ambulances to rescue and “stop the bleed.” It’s dangerous work: Russian forces like to “double-tap” after a strike in order to kill rescuers. They also train Ukrainian firemen and combat medics in “stop the bleed” techniques.

Wild Volunteers is a small volunteer team reaching some of the toughest areas of fighting near Chasiv Yar, and other frontline Ukraine areas, with comfort supplies for hundreds of troops. They know the units personally, and they supply on request, so we know that every item we fund is responding to a direct and real-time need – helping Ukraine in a substantial way to fight back. It’s dangerous work for the “Wild Volunteers” team, and we salute their courage.

Combat medical training is one of the most basic goods one can deliver in Ukraine today. Forca is an entirely volunteer group composed of Ukrainians and Americans with specialist combat, emergency medicine, and first responder expertise who take the training to ground zero. Each training has a massive amplification, because very person trained in correct torniquet and wound-packing methods can save multiple lives, and they go on to train others. We reckon this training reaches thousands of people, saving many lives.

We funded several medical shipments for Ukraine supplying hundreds of thousands of dollars of US equipment for hospitals, medical clinics, and triage units (known as “stab points” on the frontlines. These are complex logistical operations, not only sourcing, assembling, and shipping the kit; ensuring compliance with Ukrainian customs and health codes; but ensuring that distribution is controlled and monitored right down to the “last-mile” users through trusted intermediaries we personally know to avoid corrupt misuse or re-selling.

“Franklin” is an American volunteer manager we use to disburse funds on a case-by-case basis wherever the need is most critical. Based in Kharkiv, he supplies frontline stabilisation points, food, equipment, and other supplies to a huge variety of individuals who run into trouble. He also manages disbursements to a volunteer team known as “Jack and Masha” who operate like the “Wild Volunteer” group, reaching more than 40 military units with short-order supplies, and funds the repair of humanitarian vehicles.

The Kyiv Independent reaches millions of readers. We gave a small donation because independent media serves the country as a watchdog against corruption and other malfeasance, and as an honest reporter bearing witness to the war. We also believe that the Kyiv Independent will have an important watchdog role in monitoring the re-building of Ukraine – a small but relentlessly honest bulwark against corruption once peace returns.