1st Virtual Exhibition - My Child - Already helping in the field

Bratislava, 30 June 2017 – The 1st virtual exhibition of photographs, called My Child (Moje dieťa), which flooded social networks at the occasion of World Refugee Day, has already been helping in the field. The main aim of the exhibition was to point out the alarming situation of Syrian refugees and to start public debate. The exhibition was organised by the Slovak humanitarian organisation MAGNA, which provides medical care to children and their families in areas of the world hit by the crisis. On the first day alone, more than 15 thousand people visited the website with portraits of Syrian children on it, and 627 donors got involved in aiding the refugees.

My Child Exhibition
The My Child virtual exhibition was also supported by eighty Slovak celebrities who are not indifferent to the state of the world around us. Each person published one of those eighty black and white portraits of children with the text ‘My Child’ on their facebook profile, along with a link to the website: www.tojemojedieta.sk. “The main aim of the exhibition was to bring attention to the alarming situation of Syrian refugees and to start a public debate, and I think we succeeded in doing so. During just the first 24 hours over 15 thousand people visited the website”, says the photographer who took the photographs and co-founder of the MAGNA humanitarian organisation, Martin Bandžák. “The topic of refugees is hard to deal with, especially at our latitudes. People here can’t imagine what conditions people on the run live in and what they have been through. I took the photographs in May of this year at a provisional refugee camp in Lebanon, where MAGNA provides medical care to children and their families”, adds Martin Bandžák.

14,210 treated each month
MAGNA treats children and their families who had to leave their homes because of war in 4 countries: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and South Sudan. The medical service includes vaccinations, maternal health, deliveries, infectious diseases, emergency healthcare, mental and psychological therapy, trauma care and medicines, medical material and supplies. “Through our activities we provide access to health care and medicines for 250,000 people. We have 117 health-workers in the field who perform 14,210 medical examinations each month”, Martin Bandžák explains.

The money raised from the exhibition is already helping in the field
The ‘My Child’ exhibition has zero costs, and during a couple of days 627 donors contributed a total amount of EUR 8,568 for medical care for children and their families on the run from war. Also, 531 donors decided to save children’s lives regularly each month together with us. “We ensure medical care for children and their families by means of mobile clinics and health centres. The medical teams consist of doctors, nurses and midwives, psychologists and therapists, who provide primary health care on a daily basis, and take care of pregnant women. At the same time, we supply hospitals with medication, we educate local health care workers, and we equip hospitals. Besides this, we provide children with psychological social care and we take care of their mental health, which is extraordinarily important in these traumatised communities. The consequences of trauma that they experienced may often become permanent”, says MAGNA coordinator Karin Slováková from Lebanon.