Cameras without Borders - Photography for Healing and Peace urgently requests your involvement and support to help alleviate the impact of humanitarian crises in eastern Congo and South Sudan. The people in eastern Congo are suffering overwhelming physical and emotional trauma; the abuses are ongoing and epidemic, and tens-of-thousands of injured girls and women are waiting for medical treatment. Issues in crisis areas of South Sudan, northern Uganda and northwestern Kenya are equally urgent. During the first quarter of 2012, Cameras without Borders seeks your help in raising $15,000 in seed money for the following two projects.

First, in collaboration with a local organization in eastern Congo Cameras without Borders is involved in laying the groundwork to develop a network of emergency mental health centers in the rural areas of eastern Congo in order (i) to provide first response to victims and facilitate referral to specialized, including gynecological, medical treatment; (ii) to provide ongoing psychosocial services to victims, their families and communities; and (iii) to train local volunteers and young professionals. At this stage most of the funding will be used to assist critically injured survivors obtain medical treatment, work towards reducing the incident rate through educational peace building efforts, and slowly grow infrastructure for improved medical services delivery.

Second, Faculty at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with Cameras without Borders is planning to establish a Regional East-African Psycho-Trauma Center at Makerere University to train professionals from and serve communities in Uganda, Eastern Congo, South Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. The program will be culturally sensitive with a focus on empowering local communities as well as provide outreach training for volunteers and professionals in the respective communities. At this stage we seek to assemble local and field faculty, develop the curriculum and prepare proposals to funding agencies.

Please consider making a generous donation to Cameras without Borders - Photography for Healing and Peace. You can contribute in several ways:

• Contribute to the Cameras without Borders project by making a tax-deductible donation to the Blue Earth Alliance earmarked for Cameras without Borders. You can either use the online donation button:

Or mail your tax-deductible donation to the Blue Earth Alliance, P.O. Box 4490, Seattle, WA 98194.

Your contributions and, where applicable, your employers matching contributions should be made payable to Blue Earth with the notation "For Cameras without Borders." The Blue Earth Alliance is a charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and serves as fiscal agent for the Cameras without Borders project .

• Purchase prints of photographs taken by Eberhard Riedel or African program participants.(*) All proceeds from print sales fully benefit the Photography for Healing and Peace project.

• Sponsor a Photography for Healing and Peace workshop in Africa or a photographic exhibition in the United States.

• Sponsor a slide presentation in your community entitled “Encountering Curiosity: Photography for Healing and Peace.”

• Share with others information about Cameras without Borders - Photography for Healing and Peace.

(*) Print-of-your-choice appreciation program: All contributions to Cameras without Borders are deeply appreciated. Donors of $20 receive a postcard-size print of an image photographed by a child in Africa. Donors of larger contributions select their print(s) of choice, expertly printed by the photographer and available in various sizes and finishes. Please note that the amount of the contribution attributable to charitable giving must be reduced by the extent that you have received benefits, goods or services.