ACTIVITY REPORT - Sovereign Order of Malta

ACT IV ITYR E P O R T

The 80th Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta

elected 2 May 2018

Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto

SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA

As Grand Masters down the centuries before me have done, I now have the great re-sponsibility of leading our Order in its continuing mission of tuitio fidei et obsequiumpauperum (to care for those in need, inspired by our Christian principles) – which isin its almost one thousandth year. From the care for pilgrims and the sick inJerusalem carried out so long ago by our Founder Blessed Gérard and his congre-gation, to the care we give today to those in need, the Order has extended its reachbut maintained its same inspiration. Our tradition is that of care and of a spiritualmotivation. We have travelled through eras that have at times been difficult, but theOrder has always stayed the course and kept its focus on the most important mat-ters – our care for those who need us, with Christian love of our fellow man.

The care we provide ranges over many kinds of support, and one of the most involv-ing at the moment is that of assisting the many thousands of refugees and migrantsat all stages of their search for stability and a better life. We help them in their coun-tries of origin, on the routes they take to escape the crisis situations they leave be-hind and in the host countries. Recognising the importance of integration in their

A message from the Grand Master

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Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto80th Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta

Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre joins guests atthe 7th Italian Summer Camp for YoungDisabled in Padua

A MESSAGE FROM THE GRAND MASTER

new communities, we have established integration programmes in many of thesesocieties – from language courses, to school tuition, to professional programmes inthe host’s language. All these are constructive ways of aiding integration, both intothe nation where they are living and also with refugees and migrants from othercountries. To combat the scourge of human trafficking, we recently appointed twoAmbassadors, one in Geneva, the other in Lagos, whose task is to raise awarenessof this evil and the need to protect its victims. We care, too, for the needs of the localcommunities, who often require extra support in adapting to the new arrivals. In thispublication we have focussed on the plight of those on the move, understanding andresponding to their needs, and to the needs of the host societies.

In addition to this special category of help, I do not forget our thousands of members,volunteers and staff who, all over the world, are giving of their all for those who needthem. These are not one-time activities, they are the ongoing, every day commit-ments of care. These are our unsung heroes whom we appreciate deeply and always,who look ceaselessly to the poor, the disadvantaged, the handicapped, the elderlylonely, to children who need nourishment or education or love – or all three. They are always there to help.

In the pages of this publication you will find the latest information on all these works.I am proud of all that this world family, this force for good, does to alleviate sufferingin the world.

On a State visit to Cameroon, the Grand Master meets religiousleaders in a refugee camp

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EMERGENCY

AIDThe problem of care for refugeescontinues to grow. Millions are on the move, risking everything in searchof a better life, fleeing wars, famine,persecution, poverty, naturalcatastrophe. Meeting their mosturgent needs, the Order providesemergency care for migrants andrefugees, as well as reconstructionprogrammes in devastated areas.


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LOREM - IPSUM

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SOCIAL

SUPPORTEverywhere in the world there areproblems of old age, loneliness,poverty, homelessness. The Order, withits members, medical personnel anddedicated young volunteers, togetherorganise care and support for peoplein great need.

HEALTH

CAREContinuing its age-old tradition of hospitaller care, in Order hospitals,clinics, mobile units and medicalcampaigns everywhere, the doors arealways open to patients of everybackground, every age, every religion.

CONTENTS

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contents

Expanding health and social careactivities: Recent accords .....................64

International reviews strengthenactivities: Recent conferences ..............66

Government of the Sovereign Order.....68

Diplomatic relations of the Sovereign Order worldwide...................69

Section 4 The inspiration and the commitment

The Christian meaning of volunteerwork: An interview with the Prelate .....72

Section 5A legacy that will never die

Medical advances in Malta: The contribution of the Order ...............76

Section 6Care that reaches around the world

AFRICA...................................................80AMERICAS .............................................88ASIA PACIFIC .......................................100EUROPE ...............................................106MIDDLE EAST ......................................122

Order of Malta organisations worldwide .....................126

Creating a supply organisationSwitzerland: A specialised recyclingoperation................................................38

Coordinating an internationalprogramme1. Lebanon: A holiday destination which

brings hope and joy to disabled guests ................................................40

2. Cuba: Reaching out to people in need in Latin America and the Caribbean ..........................................42

3. North America: Restoration,reconciliation, rehabilitation .............44

The Global Fund for Forgetten People .............................46

Section 3The heart of the Sovereign Order of Malta

State and Official Visits .........................50

Diplomacy in action1. Grand Chancellor: Raising public

awareness of problems and threats in the humanitarian field...................56

2. Grand Hospitaller: A globalcommitment to people in need.........58

3. The Sovereign Order as a unique Observer entity at the United Nations ........................60

4. Through its humanitarian diplomacythe Sovereign Orderhas a special role ..............................62

Section 1 A new start: integrating into hostcountries

Integrating refugees and IDPs1. The challenge - To be welcoming

and protective ....................................122. One humanity – Ensuring safety

and dignity for migrants....................16

Integrating minorities1. On migration – The issues and

measures in Germany.......................182. The Roma – Creating dignity,

building futures .................................20

The impact of integration: the eyewitness1. Syria and Turkey: The longing

for the homeland...............................222. Albania: On being a foreigner

in one’s own country .........................263. France: A specialised programme,

the ‘Migrant Hub’...............................28

Section 2 Spotlight on special projects

Creating an aid organisation1. Hungary: ‘We put together

what was needed’..............................322. South Africa: A work that shapes

lives and saves lives ..........................36

SECTION

With the arrival of thousands of refugees

and migrants, fleeing violence,

persecution, famine or poverty in their

countries of origin, the challenge for the

developed world is to integrate them into

host countries so that all can benefit.

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A new start:integrating

into hostcountries


An interview with

Cardinal PeterTurksonPrefect of the Dicastery for the

Promotion of Integral Human

Development

You have spoken movingly of the interconnected concerns of caring for human lifeand protecting the environment - concerns set out in Laudato Si – on care for ourcommon home. How can we take these concerns further? Yes, everything is interconnected, as Pope Francis teaches us; and everything is alsointer-dependent! In that sense, a way of carrying these concerns further is to revisitthe central teaching of the Encyclical Letter, Laudato sì, which is “integral ecology”.Under “integral ecology”, Pope Francis pulls together all that his predecessors havehad to say on the subject of “ecology”: from “natural ecology” of Pope Paul VI to “nat-ural and human ecology” of Pope John Paul II to “natural, human, social and ecologyof peace” of Pope Benedict XVI and finally to “integral ecology” of Pope Francis. Theexpansion of the sense of “ecology” in the writings of the Popes invites us to considerthe widening sense of what it takes to promote an inclusive vision of ecology and in-tegral human development. It may well be the sense of “having life in its fullness” ofthe Gospel (Jn. 10:10).

The Bible tells us to welcome the stranger. You have spoken strongly against thesewaves of migration. How can we reconcile the two positions?Indeed, the Bible does not only tell us to welcome the stranger, it makes the experi-ence of being a migrant an important theological motif. That experience of being amigrant is used by God for his salvific purposes. Such was the case of Abraham, theSons of Jacob, Jeroboam, Ruth, etc. In their migrant and uprooted conditions, theyserve God’s purpose. Besides, God enjoins on the Hebrews to consider the strangeras a member of the community, because they themselves were strangers in the landof Egypt. Furthermore, the Covenant law demands of the Hebrew community that itprotects and integrates the strangers who live in their midst, respecting their lives,their families and even their belongings. In the New Testament too, it is significant that the early Christians were referred toin similar terms. They were resident aliens (paroikoi 1Pt.1:1-2); and the Letter of Dio-gnetus speaks of them in the following words: “Every foreign land is to them as theirnative country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers” [Chapter V]. Jesusrefers to our treatment of strangers in his presentation of the judgement scene. I am aware of all this and very many more! But this biblical charge and solicitude forthe migrant and stranger does not mandate us to provoke migration with our warsand poor geo-political policies. Natural disasters are beyond the control of everyone;but not surrogate wars and prejudices about governments and peoples’ access toland, and unfounded economic prosperities outside one’s country. It is unethical thatwe provoke situations that disturb the peace and tranquillity of people, dislodgingthem from their land and throwing them on the road as migrants.

Integrating refugees and IDPs1. The challenge: to be welcoming and protective

An inclusive vision of ecology and integral human development, of ‘life in its fullness’

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SECTION 1 - A NEW START: INTEGRATING INTO HOST COUNTRIES

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Refugees migrating north along theBalkan route face severe conditions andare in need of food, water and shelter

African countries are seeing many thousands leaving, especially the young. As youhave said, the tap needs to be turned off and the economies of the countries of ori-gin need to be strengthened, especially via access to world markets. How sooncould changes be made, realistically? Whose responsibility is this?You know, when Pope Benedict XVI visited Benin and addressed Government Officialsand members of the Diplomatic Corps, he advised them not to “rob their people ofhope”, because “hope generates energy, which stimulates the intellect and gives thewill all its dynamism.” This is how I want to answer your question. Hope for the real-isation that making Africa mere producers of raw material to keep the industries ofEurope and elsewhere running will lead always to such flows of economic migrants.We need to change our development model, not concentrating production only in cer-tain places. So, how soon? As soon as African governments begin to understand gov-ernance as the exercise of power (service) for the common good of their people. Assoon as they attract back home the talents of their citizens from the diaspora for localgrowth; and as soon as good governance begins to prevail for the fair distribution ofnational resources. Whose responsibility is this? It is the responsibility, first and foremost of the govern-ments of African countries, then of the rest of the world, that must recognise the needto show solidarity, because inclusive growth is preferable to exclusive growth, andmakes the world a far better place.

For those who arrive in host countries - often unaccompanied minors - what do yousee as the most practical support for them?The Migrants and Refugees Section of our Dicastery that is dedicated to the issue haswritten quite a lot on this, and we’ll take something from what the Holy Father hassaid. These have been elaborated in a 20 Points application package.“Child Migrants, the Vulnerable and the Voiceless” was the Holy Father’s Message forthe 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees. “Among migrants, children constitute


Malteser Germany runs integrationprogrammes in a range of facilities

the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are in-visible and voiceless: their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hid-ing them from the world’s eyes; the absence of adults to accompany them preventstheir voices from being raised and heard. In this way, migrant children easily end upat the lowest levels of human degradation, where illegality and violence destroy thefuture of too many innocents, while the network of child abuse is difficult to break up.”So it is always crucial to act in the best interests of minors, no matter their migratorystatus. If unaccompanied children are separated from their family, they should beprovided with foster care or guardianship ... and never never be wilfully separatedfrom their family! On the contrary, States should promote family reunification andprovide visas to make this as easy as possible. Finally, it is absolutely imperative toban the detention of minors.

You also warn that the migration phenomenon is a world problem. How shouldworld communities react?“Migration” is a human phenomenon and an experience. In itself, it is not a problem,and may not a priori be characterised as a human problem. It is a response to a hu-man movement from whatever threatens a people’s or a person’s life or existence.Accordingly, the history of our human family has known several periods in the past ofsuch movements of people from life-threatening situations and experiences. PopeFrancis has recently done a 90 seconds video showing such recurrent experiences inthe past. The consideration of “migration” as a problem can be from three points of view: First point of view is that of the people who make an experience of life-threatening sit-uations, before which there is no choice, but to flee: to move away, to migrate fromlife-threatening to peaceful or life-assuring situations of places. In this case, the re-action of the communities of the world is to help remove the source of the life-threat-ening danger, whatever it may be. If it is war, as in the case of the present migration,then the reaction of the world is to quench the fires of war. A cessation of hostilities

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Language classes are a key integrationfactor

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and alternative forms of conflict-resolution must be sought. If it is the governmentand political rivalry, as in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, orVenezuela, diplomacy is not without means. Everyone has a friend whom he listens to! The second point of view is the situation or people who are impoverished by suchmoving away of part of its population. In this case, aid and other gestures of solidaritythat help ensure the people’s survival are necessary. The third point of view is that of the destination of those who are on the move, whomay feel threatened by the new arrival of hitherto unknown and strange people. Thisis to a large experience the sense in which the present migration is seen as a prob-lem. What is referred to as a “problem” is a mixture of several reactions to the arrivalof the new-comers. “Fear” is common reaction; and “fear” is the common reaction toa situation of threat. So, in places of very low birth rate, is the arrival in sizable num-bers the source of threat? The numbers may be in the thousands; but they have notyet reached the millions in any receiving country. Is the fear due to the “strangeness”and “difference” of the arriving people and a challenge to diversification? This is thesituation of some countries in Europe and even the Middle East. In this case, the chal-lenge or reaction is to education, learning to discover the wealth of diversity and dif-ference. Otherwise, let us discover, in the name of the universal fraternity of the hu-man family, Pope Francis’ invitation to be welcoming and protective, to help developtheir resources and to help the newcomers integrate in their new home. For, on thisearth, all of us are migrants. The real host is one, and He is God!

The Order of Malta cares for refugees and migrants, in their countries of origin, enroute, and in the host countries. Do you have a message of encouragement?The members of the Sovereign Order of Malta are in the forefront, almost on theemergency line, and this derives from the history and the foundation of the Order.Once offering help and protection to pilgrims it now welcomes and accompanies mi-grants. More than encouragement, I pray that a sense of memory of what the Orderused to do continues to inspire and sustain this new form and area of ministry.


In recent years, the large-scale movements of migrants, including refugees, havedramatically highlighted the potential risks facing them, particularly those in an ir-regular situation. Whilst vulnerability is often the cause for people to flee theirhomes, what we have seen is that there are vulnerabilities associated with the wholejourney of a migrant. These vulnerabilities pose challenges to all those stakeholdersinvolved in the process of responding to the needs of migrants and supporting indi-vidual resilience building. Some of these challenges manifest themselves in the increasing risks of tensionswith local communities. In many countries, migrants face suspicion, hostility andxenophobia. While evidence shows migrants’ potential to contribute to economicgrowth, structural inequalities in host societies may lead to uneven distribution ofpositive contributions at the community level. Where pressures are experienced dueto large-scale population movements, those affected will often be those already mostmarginalised within the host society. This can ultimately lead to tensions and acts ofviolence between communities. Our work as IFRC (International Red Cross and Red Crescent)1 has led us to under-stand that upholding the dignity of migrants is a dynamic two-way process of “mutualaccommodation and respect by all migrants and residents”. Multiple strategies areneeded to address this. Social inclusion and integration efforts should accordingly fo-cus on establishing a process of mutual understanding, respect and connection be-tween communities, including ensuring support for migrants to adapt to a new home,as well as dialogue with and support to host communities to be inclusive and wel-coming. Such efforts whilst also addressing deeper domestic structural inequalitiesthat create a breeding ground for tensions, could also be instrumental in counteringxenophobia, intolerance and discrimination so that migrants are shown as being pos-itive contributors to society.

Agents of developmentBased on the experiences of our National Societies engaged in social inclusion andmigration programmes at the local and national level, we are firmly of the belief thatmigrants should be considered as ‘agents of development’ rather than passive recip-ients of humanitarian aid. When migrants gain access to education and labour mar-kets, they can build their skills and become self-reliant, contributing to localeconomies and supporting the development of the communities hosting them. Stud-ies demonstrate the positive contribution migrants have been able to make in manycontexts despite significant constraints, suggesting potential for even vaster contri-butions if wider opportunities were provided.

2. One humanity - ensuring safety and dignity for migrantsThe need for multiple strategies to address the issues

Jamilah Mahmood,IFRC is a Malaysian doctor. Since

January 2016, she has served

as Under Secretary General for

Partnerships at the International

Federation of Red Cross and Red

Crescent Societies. Before that,

Dr. Mahmood was Chief of the

World Humanitarian Summit

secretariat at the United Nations

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Encouraging micro-finance programmeshelps local farmers to grow their owncrops, for market as well as for home

So, what are some of the lessons that we have learned in our work with migrantsand refugees?We as collective stakeholders in society need to establish a clear and coherent posi-tion and strategy to address migrant stigmatisation and prejudice along the whole mi-gratory trail. This includes messaging in multiple formats, on multiple outlets, tomultiple audiences. It also includes ‘myth busting’ within 48 hours of anti-migrantcoverage. The IFRC and National Societies (NS) by their footprint in communities canplay a large and significant role in this campaign, but it is one narrative that has to befuelled by everyone.

Real connections between communities and migrants -and the importance of youthFrom research done through our National Societies in Australia, Denmark the UnitedKingdom and across Europe, we have found that very often host communities are di-vided between those ‘for’ and those ‘against’ migration. There is further a groupcalled the ‘Anxious Middle’ who are those who are not strongly against migration orracist, but have many concerns about the effect of migration on their society. Theseconcerns are often genuine, but many feel unclear and fear ‘political correctness’ andthink they cannot speak about their concerns. Facts, figures and moral messagingare not enough to make an impact on those who are ‘against’ or ‘anxious’. What hasbeen found to be useful and complementary to these campaigns are programmesthat emphasise and support a real connection between communities. In this sense,Red Cross and Red Crescent local branches and volunteers are well placed to bridgethose communities and more volunteering programmes need to be encouragedwhich allow real connections to be made between the host community and migrants.There is a need for a greater humanisation of the migrants and though campaigns area start they are just part of a wider programme of engagement and outreach. It is alsoimportant to recognise that youth are a vital constituency. Multiple studies from theVarkey Foundation2 to the World Economic Forum have shown that the current gen-eration of young people is passionate about being involved in social justice issues es-pecially like that of migration. They care and want to do something about it. Thisneeds to be understood and exploited better.

The role of migrants as volunteersMembers of affected communities should also be encouraged to become part of thesolution, as volunteers of National Societies and other community groups. Having amore diverse volunteer staff base is helpful to providing sensitive and informed ser-vices. National Societies in resettlement countries have made efforts to include peo-ple with migration experience as staff volunteers, which has been very helpful in sup-porting migrants. This does of course require a change in the paradigm of thinking ofmany National Societies and host communities about the role of migrants especiallyas volunteers.

Humanising migrants: a shared humanityUltimately it is about humanising migrants. Our narratives and projects need to gen-erate empathy and prevent the dehumanisation of migrants in mainstream narratives.Stories of individuals, emphasising commonalities (as opposed to celebrating diversi-ty), can help address this issue. We need to look at connections between host commu-nities and migrants that promote understanding and respect such as volunteering.Ultimately the message of a Shared Humanity is one that should resonate with every-one relying on empathy and reciprocity. They contribute to advocate for the basic min-imum standards of human dignity that must be afforded to all migrants, irrespectiveof status, irrespective of whether you believe there should be more or less migration.

1. The International Federation of RedCross and Red Crescent Societies is madeup of 190 individual National Societiesdedicated to the Fundamental Principlesof Humanity, Neutrality, Impartiality,Independence, Voluntary Service, Unityand Universality.2. The Varkey Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established to improvethe standards of education forunderprivileged children throughout theworld.


In October 2017, the Order of Malta in Germany, under its Director Karl Löwenstein,published a seminal report on migrants in Germany – the Malteser Migration Re-port.1

The Report describes migrants’ reasons for coming, the reactions of the State, theactions and programmes of the Order of Malta to integrate them into the community.The Report, subtitled ‘Facts instead of sentiment’, emphasises that while emotionsmay often inspire works of mercy, they can also be destructive. Thus, an assessmentof the facts is essential. The Report reminds that migration and flight are not newphenomena of today – migration is almost a historical constant. At the time of pub-lication, 2,800 full time and voluntary staff of the Order of Malta in Germany wereworking in the refugee service in about 100 locations, caring for more than 25,000people every day.The focus now is integration – integrating migrants into local communities. The keyfor success is the labour market. Refugees have a high motivation to work and needto be sure as soon as possible after arrival of their prospects of remaining in Ger-many. The Integration Law of August 2016 aimed at providing easier access to thelabour market for asylum applicants and recognised asylum seekers. Learning thelanguage is also vital – and 25% of those who arrived in 2015-16 now have employ-ment. Another consideration is the relationship between migration and crime, butanalysis shows that transgressors are mainly those asylum seekers who have a lowperspective for remaining - those with a lack of prospects and isolation are an incen-tive for conflict and violence. The main reasons for the high number of refugees in Germany are humanitariancrises and unstable political and economic conditions in many countries. In 2015 and2016 over 1.2 million refugees came to Germany, the largest group being from Syria,then Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, then Eritrea. Asylum applications: 70% under 30years of age, 30% from minors, two out of three migrants are male, two thirds areethnic Arabs and 75% are Muslim. [In a population comparison, in Germany only onethird are under 30, and 20% are over 65.] The refugees who came to Germany in2015 and 2016 came mainly from countries to which they will not be returning in thenear future. They need to be integrated into the labour market. By April 2017 theiremployment rate was below the average for the foreign population. In June 2017192,000 were unemployed. Barriers included poor language skills and low levels ofqualifications. Migrants have in principle a right to be treated with dignity, in line with their humanrights and the rule of law. For their reception and integration from a Christian-ethicalpoint of view, it is the application of the Christian commandment to love thy neigh-bour. Economic refugees are accepted on the basis of economic and political criteria.

Integrating minorities1. On migration: the issues and measures in Germany

’Facts instead of sentiment’

Karl LöwensteinFormer Director of Germany’s

Malteser Hilfsdienst

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As newcomers arrive at the Order’srefugee centres they are provided withwarm clothing and shoes for the coldwinter

Committing to the integration of refugeesThe initial care stage is now complete and the focus has moved to sustainable inte-gration into the labour market. This next stage is supported by a group set up in 2016,the ‘Wir zusammen Foundation’ (Us Together Foundation) where employees of vari-ous SMEs and corporations offer numerous training and further education pro-grammes, and act as mentors to refugees. The support network continues to growand it is also clear that migration brings changes that benefit the German economy.As the head of the Job Centre in Muenster says: ‘There is an interplay between inte-gration into work and into society.’ He notes that many refugees are very motivatedand eager to work, and that the most effective method for language acquisition is inproviding opportunities for practice as well. Integration courses which address theparticipants’ own characteristics are also offered by local states and municipalities,employment agencies and many charitable institutions. Vocational training is also apriority – only 19% of the refugees had vocational training or had completed a courseof study. There is a need to simplify social legislation, to make it comprehensible tothe migrant applicants. The federal government’s total asylum-related expenditure in2016 was estimated to be 21.7 billion euros, recognising that the labour market inte-gration of refugees is essential for long term sustainability.

The Order of Malta in Germany: refugee focus - integrationThe Order of Malta in Germany has been working in refugee aid and migration for over 20 years. The challenge in 2015-16 was exceptional. Since the acute need for emergency accommodation and care has passed, the emphasis is now onintegration into local communities.The first assessment resulted in 3,000 volunteers organising accommodation to be ready in less than 48 hours, in 160facilities with 700-1,000 beds and 54,000 people cared for daily during the influx. Asylum applications in 2016 totalled745,545. From September 2016 the flow declined significantly and care demands are now for 30,000 refugees in 100facilities. Every fourth refugee in Germany has been assisted by an Order of Malta volunteer on at least one occasion.Integration programmes include language courses and acculturation.In July 2016, in an exceptional concert, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and theCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach choir, rang out in one of the over a hundred refugee camps the Order of Malta runs inGermany. Sponsored by the Order of Malta in Germany, the Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and the FederalGovernment Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, the emphasis was on joy and community: ‘EinesFreundes Freund zu sein’ (to be a friend’s friend). A small child in a German town was asked recently: ‘In yourkindergarten do you have foreigners?’ The reply came back at once: ‘In my kindergarten we have only children.’

1. Malteser Migration Report – Factsinstead of sentiment:https://www.malteser.de/migration-fluechtlingshilfe.html Cologne, October2017

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In September 2013 Franz Salm was appointed the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Ambas-sador for the Roma. It was a challenge that arrived at the right time, he says. He hadjust retired from thirty years of corporate life and did not see himself ‘just sittingaround... I wanted to do something to help people who needed help. This is theessence of the Order and my own perspective, too.’The background to his brief: well before 2013 there were already activities to help Ro-ma communities carried out by relief organisations of the Order of Malta, but with anAmbassador at the helm, the work would acquire much higher coordination. The Or-der’s work recognises that with Roma and travellers - there are approximately 12million of them, the largest and most vulnerable minority in Europe – they are not on-ly a social, but also a severe political challenge. The Ambassador cites the WorldBank survey of February 2015, emphasising its central points - that we need to ad-dress the deep inequalities surrounding the Roma, that this is a human rights issueas well as smart economics - with young Roma constituting 10-20% of new labourmarket entrants.1 The Order, he notes, with 108 embassies worldwide, has an effec-tive network for activities in this field. In the first years in his new post, the Ambassador fundraised 1m euro for 11 projects,and fundraising from both public and private sources continues apace. He explains: ‘It is a 600-year old drama for the Roma – but things really work if yougive them dignity. Social workers are needed 24/7 – you have to stay with them, youcan’t leave them without attention. These are not our guests! They have dignity. Youneed a balance between social thinking and the needs of civil society. ’

Below poverty there is miseryAs he discusses the needs of the Roma – he has travelled extensively in Eastern andCentral Europe on fact-finding missions - he warns ‘Below poverty there is misery.’And he cautions that Eastern Slovakia will face the greatest challenges in the comingyears: gypsies are 20% of the population. Of that 20%, 30% speak Romani, not Slovak.

The Order’s projects for the Roma focus on seven areas of need in Roma communitycentres:- hygiene and health facilities- medical checks- kindergarten and playground- tutoring school children- counselling for the mothers- apprenticeships, and - music, school and other activities leading to local assimilation.

2. The Roma: creating dignity, building futuresA human rights issue

Ambassador Franz Salmis the first holder of the recently

created role of the Sovereign Order

of Malta’s Ambassador for the Roma

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The key to social integration is educationThe most effective way to engage young Roma to learn, explains the Ambassador -the key, in fact - is to encourage the mothers to send their children to school. ‘Wecounsel the mothers. And we train the girls to weave, the boys to do carpentry. We al-so educate the young in social behaviour, to build their self-confidence – we teachthem to greet people and look them in the eye. When the children behave normally,people lose their mistrust of them, social prejudice disappears. A Jesuit who haslooked after children in Sibiu, Romania, for years described them: ‘These are all mychildren. Now, some are going to university.’The Ambassador organised a pilgrimage to Rome last year for 220 Roma from sixcountries. They had an audience with Pope Francis. ‘An unforgettable experience foreveryone.’Order of Malta projects are now underway in Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hun-gary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Ambassador Salm is engaged in uni-fying the programmes in each country, to review successes and share best practices.Progress is already evident, heartening for the organisations and encouraging for thecommunities themselves, as they begin to see they really do have a future, too.

1. World Bank/Region/Europe and CentralAsia/Overview, February 24, 2015

Young Roma are encouraged to join intheir local community in Transylvaniathrough riding lessons and after schoolteaching. As a result, their academicprogress has advanced significantly


From a pre-war population in Syria of 22 million in 2011, 5.5 million have left, but alarger number are internally displaced. All borders are now tightly closed by theneighbouring countries, which carry the largest burden of hosting Syrian refugees. Since November 2017, there have been pounding air strikes and bombardments inIdlib. “The creation of the so-called de-escalation zones has led to a reduction in vi-olence,” says Janine Lietmeyer. “But Idlib with 1.5 million inhabitants and a milliondisplaced persons has seen a massive increase in air strikes. More than 100,000 peo-ple have sought refuge near the Turkish border, where living conditions are miser-able as the civil war enters its seventh year.” Currently it is extremely problematic for humanitarian organisations to work in Syria,so since 2013 Malteser International has been working from Turkey in partnershipwith local Syrian organisations to provide medical care for the displaced.

What does being ‘displaced’ mean in Syria? Civilian and public infrastructure, under constant bombardments from Syrian andRussian Air Forces, are destroyed. A huge number of internally displaced people arein camps near the Turkish border, where the Air Forces could not fly attacks. Thecamps are on ungravelled ground and families live in tents – in muddy conditions inthe very cold, wet winters, in dust in the extremely hot summers.

What is daily life like for displaced people? People not only suffer from violence and personal loss (over 400,000 dead so far),

The impact of integration: the eyewitness1. Syria and Turkey: the longing for the homeland

Developing support programmes, making a living in a foreign country

Janine LietmeyerMalteser International’s Desk Officer

for Syria

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Syria’s economy is shattered. The security situation means families in rural areascannot cultivate their land, trade and business income have dried up, everyone strug-gles. The displaced turn to negative coping mechanisms - reduced food intake, childlabour, early marriage to alleviate the responsibility of caring for female children.IDPs are even more vulnerable because of the harsh living conditions in the camps. Lack of access to health care poses risks to the whole population, due to absence ofany state authority responsible for public services, destruction of health facilities andscarcity of qualified health staff.

How do cross border medical aid projects work?With restricted access for international organisations, especially after the abductionand killing of international aid workers by the so-called Islamic State, we rely on aSyrian partner organisation inside Syria. Initially, it was a group of doctors from Alep-po needing technical and financial support to work as emergency responders (nonehad this expertise), so Malteser International experts teamed up with them. We sharean office in the Turkish border town of Kilis and jointly have a hospital and four pri-mary health care clinics in the IDP camps on the Syrian side. All supplies come infrom Turkey. The Turkish Government and the Turkish Red Crescent are facilitatingthe border crossing of material and staff for the partner organisations.

What dangers are the humanitarian partners exposed to, for example, in Aleppo?Until December 2016 when Aleppo was recaptured by Syrian government forces, Mal-teser International helped our Syrian partner to run a children’s hospital in the oppo-sition-held part of the city. After it was destroyed, the improvised clinic run by ourpartner had to be relocated three times, due to shelling and barrel bombs. The lastfully-qualified paediatrician, Dr. Muhammad Waseem Maaz, was killed during theshelling of the Al Quds hospital on 27 April 2016.

At the border crossing between Syria andTurkey, the Order’s international reliefagency, Malteser International, providesmedical and social care


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Young refugee students at the Order’sschool in Kilis, Turkey, integrating intothe host country

Despite this, and the threat of siege, the hospital staff refused to leave, being the onlyspecialised services for an estimated 60,000 children in eastern Aleppo. During thesiege, July to December 2016, the children’s hospital moved to the building’s base-ment for protection. The building took two direct hits in November. By then, medicalsupplies, fuel and food stocks had been depleted and no-one could bring in reliefgoods. The children’s hospital had to stop in December because front lines were clos-ing in and the medical staff were among the 35,000 evacuees to the remaining oppo-sition-held areas in Idlib and Azaz.With 3.1 million registered refugees, Turkey is the largest host of refugees in theworld. In Kilis, around 250,000 Syrians are hosted in 23 camps. The rest, plus manyrefugees of other nationalities, live outside the camps in very challenging circum-stances. Despite the enormous efforts of the Turkish government, local authorities and hostcommunities, there are still gaps in support, especially for vulnerable refugee groups.

The rehabilitation hospital in KilisAlthough the border is officially closed, the Turkish authorities have always facilitatedthe cross-border medical evacuation of severely wounded patients to the State hos-pital in Kilis. The patient load during the first conflict years was overwhelming andthere was an urgent need to support the Turkish structures. So Malteser Internation-al set up a post-operative hospital in Kilis for Syrian patients needing longer-term re-habilitation. Many in the 48-bed facility had multiple injuries; many will live with per-manent disabilities. Everyone in the medical team is a Syrian health professional whocomes from the refugee community in Kilis.

What is the psycho-social damage? As well as medical care in the rehabilitation hospital, psychologists and social work-ers have developed a support programme for patients and their families. Patientscome from a cultural background where psychological pathologies are stigmatised,so it is challenging to encourage them to express negative feelings. Making a livingin a foreign country while surviving in very crowded housing situations is sometimesmore stressful than the experience of violence and harsh conditions during the flightfrom Syria.


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A positive academic experience forSyrian children in TurkeyHow does Malteser International help the refugees?

Community centres next to the rehabilitation hospital serve the refugees’ needs. Thecentres – Malteser International supports one in Kilis, another in Istanbul – offercourses in Turkish, and practical skills such as computer applications or vocationaltraining. Speaking the language is key for integration and there is high demand in thecentres.

How do you help the children? With no imminent solution to the conflict in Syria, the refugee children are encour-aged to integrate in their host community. They are entitled to free education in Turk-ish schools, but need support to adapt to the system and the language. For example,our Istanbul training centre offers courses to highschoolers, to prepare them for theentry exam for Turkish universities. Close to the Turkish border, Malteser International supports two organisations forSyrian children with special needs - an orphanage in Reyhanli for 60 unaccompaniedSyrian children and a project in Kilis for young disabled.

Do the refugees seek to return home or to start a new life abroad?I believe you never lose the emotion of longing for your homeland. Syrians feel verystrongly about their country. They say that the instant peace is restored every Syrianwill go home immediately. But the realities - a protracted conflict situation, massiveinfrastructure destruction and little hope of a comprehensive political solution –mean many Syrians in Turkey seek integration for the sake of their children. The firstgroup of refugee children born in Turkey will enter school this year without any doc-umentation as Syrian citizens. The challenge of being forced to start a new life abroad is not unique to Syrians: it isshared by millions of refugees worldwide.


Albania has a population of three million and a difficult history – five centuries of Ot-toman rule, and then 50 years, 1945-1992, under a severe Communist regime. Thefall of the Berlin wall was followed by the fall of the Albanian regime, and the countryis still in a transition period. The Albanian state cannot yet guarantee a life with dig-nity for all its citizens: incomes are low and do not cover basic needs, social supportis minimal, the health system is non-functional and the education system needs tobe more efficient. Thus, many Albanians left the country because of the economic situation, or to es-cape misery, or because they saw no perspective in Albania, or to seek opportunitiesabroad.

Who left and why?In post-Communist Albania there have been three waves of emigration: after the fallof Communism, in 1991-92, after the financial and political crisis of ’97, and duringthe last three years as the economic and political situation deteriorated. The firstwave was mainly young people, but now there are families too. Most are from thenorth, which is less developed than the rest of the country.

Where did they go and for how long?Most preferred Germany as their destination because it could offer very good socialprotection and employment possibilities. However, some families emigrated to ben-efit from the good health system there. Other European countries - France, Belgium,and the Netherlands - were also recent targets. The emigrants stayed abroad fromsome years to a few months, depending on the processing speed of their immigrationapplication in the host country. In general Albanians are well integrated in Germanyand in the other host countries, the children go to school, the adults seek jobs andmany succeed.

Why did they come back to Albania? Those returning did so only after the immigration services refused their applications,or the law enforcement structures of the host country did so. To extend their stay,there are many cases of Albanian families changing their address in the host countryafter refusal of their immigration request. But often the law enforcers found the newlocation and forced families back to Albania, with not even the time to gather up theirdocuments. One can imagine the conditions of these families, the psychological sit-uation of their children at the Albanian cross border points, after waiting hours, with-out documents, distressed, confused…

2. Albania: On being a foreigner in one’s own countryThe problems facing returnees

Maranaj MarkuDirector of Malteser Albania

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Conditions for many in Albania are veryprecarious. The Order is providingsupport to the most needy in the north of the country

How many left and how many have returned? During the last three years over 100,000 people left Albania. In 2015, around 55,000Albanians officially requested refugee status in Germany, with many others living inGermany without officially declaring their address.There is no official register, but from contacts with returned families we know that thenumber of returnees is growing. In Germany refugee and immigration services are ingeneral refusing their applications for refugee status. From 34,000 processed appli-cations in 2016 only 10 Albanians received asylum status. Most returnees have nowhere to return to, because they sold their houses beforeleaving, and even those who did not, sold all their possessions. Depending on the timespent abroad, many no longer have contacts in Albania. The longer the time as arefugee, the better integrated into the host country, but the possibilities to return vol-untarily are fewer and fewer and acceptance of the ‘new’ situation in Albania moreand more difficult.

What conditions did they find on return? The conditions they find on return are worse than those they left: accommodation isscarce, there are difficulties finding a job because of the general situation in Albania,and lack of training and inefficient social services are but the first obstacles. Threemonths after a family leaves Albania, social services stop, children are de-registeredfrom schools and kindergartens and the families lose health insurance. Thus, manyconsider going back to Germany or another European country where they can stay ina refugee camp, benefit from social services, earn more money than working 10hours a day in Albania and their children are settled in kindergartens and schools.

How does Malteser Albania help? Two years ago Malteser Albania started a new programme – aid for the reintegrationof returnees in north Albania.Our psychological and medical teams first meet needy returnees. We are often toldabout special cases from the border police. We offer psychological support, provide medicines, hygiene kits and food. If needed,we offer transport to their home or if they have nowhere to go, we mediate with gov-ernmental and/or nongovernmental services to find them temporary housing. If wedo not succeed, we pay a hotel for some weeks until we find decent accommodation.In cases where family members need medical aid, our team contacts the medical ser-vices in Germany or host countries where the patient had received medical treatment,to have their medical notes transferred to the health services in Albania.Another team, a legal assistant and a social worker, advises on enrolment in thestate benefits scheme and health insurance and helps the family register the chil-dren in kindergarten and school. In between times, they can attend the Malteserkindergarten, after school programmes, or the medical and health services offeredby Malteser Albania, thanks to the financial support of our donors. Malteser Albaniaoffers returnees mediation and assistance for vocational training and employmentpossibilities.We believe that being near our returnees at a time when they feel they are foreignersin their own country, with our staff and volunteers caring for them professionally, isfuelling our energies in support of their reintegration into Albanian society.


Ordre de Malte France has been running a specialised programme since summer2014, to aid persecuted populations in the Middle East who have fled from conflict orviolence, and who are claiming asylum in France. By the end of 2017, 564 persons hadbenefited from the programme, including 198 children. In its ‘Migrant Hub’, the Order has set up three areas of assistance: immediate sup-port for refugees; help in integrating families; legal support in the administrative de-tention centres. The Hub’s experts regularly speak at national and local conferencesand work with State Ministries, parliamentary committees, magistrates and lawcourts.Maintaining the human dignity of the refugees and assisting them to become inde-pendent is paramount. Principal areas of support are the provision of material help,offering good living conditions to arriving families and collecting and distributing ba-sic necessities, food and furniture. Since summer of 2014, 356 persons were able tohave access to public housing, giving them the opportunity to settle in their newcountry. Practical help includes support for asylum seekers in the administrative and legalprocedures the State requires: assistance in filling out the asylum application, adviceon interviews with the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Per-sons (OFPRA), and how to apply for social benefits. Since this activity started threeyears ago, 335 applicants obtained legal protection as refugees. Creating a socialbond is very important in developing these activities, so that the refugees can start anew life in France. Ordre de Malte France organises referrals to health practitioners,

3. France: A specialised programme – the ‘Migrant Hub’Helping Middle Eastern refugees to integrate

Clotilde GinerDeputy Director Migrant Hub –

Ordre de Malte France

Benjamin Serven Refugees Relief Activities

Coordinator, Ordre de Malte France

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links to schools, offers language orientation, researches sponsorships for studentsand assists in job search. By promoting the learning of the language of their new country, refugees are helpedto integrate. In 2016, the municipality of Paris, recognising this important step in theprocess of integration, called for projects to learn French for asylum seekers in resi-dential centres. The Order, together with the municipality, has set up courses, whichare given by Order volunteers. Two modules, each of three months, are offered. Theiraim is to give the refugee newcomers the means to be autonomous in France, to ac-quire the keys to express themselves, and in this way to promote their integration intothe community. Benjamin Serven, Refugees Relief Activities Coordinator, on the Migrant Hub: ‘To besuddenly uprooted in a few hours or days is to leave behind some part of oneself, toseparate oneself from one’s family, but also to separate from the cultural and profes-sional codes… It really is an inner heartache. In addition to the administrative and ma-terial support we provide for refugees, what matters is creating a benevolent atmo-sphere so that they feel surrounded by support and warmth. However, they are theones who have the resources to start anew, and it is indeed edifying to observe theenergy they can deploy in creating their new lives!’

In France, the Order aids the integrationof migrants into the society, offering arange of special programmes,consultations and skills training

SECTION

Over 130,000 members, volunteers

and employees work in 120 countries

around the world. From hospice,

to hospital, from clinic to soup kitchen,

their only aim is to help. They see

the need, and they create ways

to support those who need supporting.

2

Spotlighton special

projects


Fr. Imre KozmaFounder member of the Order of

Malta’s Hungarian Charity Service

(Magyar Máltai Szeretetszolgálat)

and a 2016 winner of the European

Citizen’s Prize

In the summer of 1989 an extraordinary sight in a church garden in north Budapestwas attracting great media attention, with national and international television crewsand scores of press teams collecting at its gates – on some days, 62 crews. The gar-den was full of tents, from the fence to the church door. And 1,200 beds.What had brought this about? Fr. Imre Kozma explains. He was the parish priestthere. It was the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. 30,000 East Germans suddenlypoured into Hungary - families, grandmothers, children, pregnant women - mostaiming to travel on to Austria. Some on foot, some in battered caravans, some in di-lapidated Trabants - all were looking for shelter and some direction. Alerted by theWest German consul, whose office was overrun, Fr. Kozma immediately mobilised hislocal volunteers – 160 of them – and before the day was out, tents had been erectedin the garden, the beds made up, a field kitchen and a field hospital established, anda warm welcome was being extended to the refugees. ‘We put together what wasneeded. We ordered food from the city’s hotels. No-one ever asked us to pay!’ Two ofthe most efficient helpers turned out to be the Communist chairman of the local par-ty secretariat and the party secretary.As the days went by, word got around and more and more refugees arrived. The Hun-garian Prime Minister, Miklós Németh, came. The East German consul came. TheWest German Ambassador came. The West German Foreign Minister came. Chancel-lor Helmut Kohl came. At one stage, with the tents full, the overspill (4,000-5,000) slept in the church – in all,48,600 people were accommodated that summer. The gesture was not without dan-ger – Fr. Kozma was aware that informers were watching him and also taking noteson his volunteers and on the locals who had generously turned their gardens intotemporary shelters for the exodus. Looking back at those chaotic times, Fr. Kozmashakes his head: ‘It was all worth it.’ The boy who had grown up in the Budapest parish of Zugliget had learned from hisgrandfather: ‘Our life is not ours, it belongs to others. We have to gift it.’ At school,his headmaster approved free tuition for him, ‘because the effort is worth it.’ Aca-demically, he was proved right. Then, offered a football contract – he was a talentedmid fielder – he turned it down to study for the priesthood - a courageous decision inthose times. He had seen priests in his childhood – many were hidden in his villageand met weekly at the local church – and admired their bravery. This was the Com-munist era and to be a priest could mean imprisonment or worse. By the time he was consecrated, there was only one priest in Hungary who was notin prison. Fr. Kozma knew informers were everywhere and they ‘knew everythingabout everyone.’ At that time he decided to dedicate his life to caring for the poor. Hisduties included teaching catechism in school. On the first day he had just one stu-

Creating an aid organisation1. Hungary: ‘We put together what was needed.

It has all been worth it’How a nationwide organisation was born

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SECTION 2 - SPOTLIGHT ON SPECIAL PROJECTS

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From its beginnings in 1988, theHungarian Charity Service of the Ordernow runs 25% of the nation’s supportservices

dent. By the end of two months, there were eighty. The next year, 117. Over a thou-sand adults were coming to Sunday Mass. To reinforce the sense of community, hegreeted everyone he passed in the street. After six months they were all greeting him– and it took ages to get to the church! His next move, in Budapest, found him offering weekly religious talks to universitystudents. Quite soon, 1,500 students turned up. The informers were there too! Heheard thousands of confessions, after which many of the students were expelled. Butthey still say: ‘It was worth it.’ During this time Fr. Kozma was aware that he was al-ways followed, and he was regularly interrogated. Nevertheless, he started up a‘Family therapy programme’, building up to 2,800 couples. But because of this, hewas forced to leave.

From acorns oak trees grow: Starting up the Hungarian Charity ServiceHowever, he managed to return to his childhood parish and set up a small group ofparishioners. He stayed there twenty years by which time 3,000 people were comingto Sunday Mass. Surveillance was always present, however, and it was known that thecar number plates of all who drove to Mass were noted. He set up a social care sys-tem, starting with 800 student volunteers: this was the start of the Hungarian CharityService of the Order (MMSz) which gradually expanded between 1977 and 1987. An-other inspiring supporter turned up at that time: Csilla Boeselager. Together with Fr.Kozma, they expanded the service and by February 1989 it was officially registered.They called it ‘love service’, not ‘help service’, because the emphasis was on personalcare for those who needed it. Aware that the Hungarian community in Romania was very poor, every weekend theytook a train to Romania, laden with parcels of aid. In December Romania exploded.The newly formed MMSz prepared trucks loaded with food, medicines, blankets, andset out. The aid trucks stopped en route in Budapest – 960 of them – and Fr. Kozmaorganised where the aid should go in the different, suffering towns in Romania. Be-


The Charity Service gives succour to refugees on the Serbo / Hungarianborder with food, clothing and medical aid

tween 1989 and 1990, responding to these great crises, he organised 40,000 volun-teers. The network expanded across the whole of Hungary and a number of conceptsemerged:1) The importance of the presence of the volunteers in the local environment: ‘People

should not be parachuted in to a location.’2) The acceptance of others, being open to others: ‘Our real home is in the heart of

other people.’3) Accompaniment – to accompany people in their moments of need.Fr. Kozma observes: ‘The political world uses these expressions now.’ The efforts,undeniably, have been worth it.

What does Fr. Kozma see as his legacy?‘That I did not live in vain. Human life, as a form of art, is a drama. You either love untilyou die, or you do not live, because we express our love through our spirit of sacrifice.I am only related to a person for whom I have made a sacrifice. Everyone else is astranger, if we do not have this relationship.’ Why is it important to help, to do good?‘By doing good, we become better. You can only become good by doing good. We allneed this experience – I can be better, I can do good. The Hungarian word for ‘society’includes the idea of ‘partner’. It implies that I can form a society only with people withwhom I have a partnership.’Although being busy in his parish, and with the growing charity service of the Orderof Malta, people still came to see him. They came and they stayed. ‘Today I cannot tella young person who is searching ‘come and celebrate’ because what he or she seeswould be completely foreign to him or her. S/he has no value system! I ask, what is ahealthy soul? There are two qualities: 1) the soul allows itself to be value-oriented to-wards universal values; 2) it has a conscience, which is responsibility towards anoth-er person. Today we see that there is a moral crisis, that is, no universally acceptedvalues; and there is no sense of conscience because there is no feeling of responsi-bility towards other people.’

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The Charity Service regularly distributesmuch needed food parcels for poorfamilies

Fr. Kozma sees being a chaplain of the Order of Malta as a particular manifestation ofhis Christianity. ‘Christianity is a religion of signs, so if I think of mission, this is espe-cially valid. When you live your life in a parish, the most you can aim for is to build aliving community. Through the activities of the Order of Malta this circle widens. Formy personal spiritual life the message is that one sees God in wider circles. To illus-trate: the main groups here who need our help are the homeless. They are not loved.The gypsies (Roma) are not loved either. With the MMSz we think and act without dis-crimination. For example, in 1992 we welcomed thousands of Russian Jews who hadarrived in Budapest, who were homeless. The MMSz is responsible for the homelessin Budapest – we are the only organisation in Hungary working in an integrated way. ‘He reflects: ‘As a priest I meet a lot of people who are about to die. Most ask them-selves: ‘Did my life have a meaning?’ What gives meaning to our lives is what we havedone for others, whether one is a believer or not.’

The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of MaltaFounded officially in 1989, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order ofMalta has 3,000 regular and 10,000 occasional volunteers. Led by FatherImre Kozma, it is now the major welfare organisation in the country and atrusted partner of Hungarian institutions. It has 350 branches, 130 localvolunteer groups, 220 institutes and 2,200 employees. It also works in thecivil defence area with its own teams to assist victims of natural disastersboth in Hungary and abroad.


The mission of the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard centre is to provide a holistic caresystem (caring for the whole person), with projects in healthcare, child care and reliefand social care. Fr. Gerard Lagleder, who has run these wide-ranging programmessince the Centre’s start, explains: ‘I had attended a dying lady in a local township whotold me she could not afford to see a doctor, nor go to hospital. Shocked, I took herto be treated. The doctor attending her said very many of the local people were dyingof malnutrition or total neglect at home. ‘Can’t we do something?’ he pleaded. Fromthis, our organisation began.’ Fr. Gerard’s aim was to found an organisation of SouthAfricans, based locally, and working with local people. Fr. Gerard grew up in Regensburg, Germany. He worked with the Order of Malta inGermany for over 30 years, and valued the need for good organisation, before movingas a missionary to South Africa, the fulfilment of a childhood dream. He was appoint-ed parish priest of Mandeni in 1991. Together with a team of volunteers in the parishled by Mrs Clare Kalkwarf, within three months needy families in Zululand had re-ceived food and clothes, the children were encouraged to return to school and themen to get jobs. The work that would shape his life had begun.

Speak Zulu? ‘I had no choice!’Fr. Gerard speaks Zulu fluently: ’I had no choice,’ he says and recounts that in theearly days he was the only priest (and ‘pale face’) in a huge parish of 28 congrega-tions, spread over 1,000 square kilometres, connected by unpaved roads.Today, the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard is almost exclusively funded by private do-nations and some corporate donors - there is no compulsory health insurance inSouth Africa. The Centre has 82 staff and over 1,100 volunteers. ‘We are overrun withvolunteers,’ says Fr. Gerard. ‘It is considered a very prestigious activity.’ But Mandeni still has severe poverty, an unemployment rate of 52%, and 76% in Man-deni are HIV-positive. The Centre’s HIV patients are mostly in their twenties and thir-ties and were infected in their teens, as the disease takes up to ten years to develop.There are many child-headed ‘families’ because a large percentage of the parents,that is, the young population who have succumbed to AIDS and where granny hasdied, means that the older siblings have to take on the parental role. The Centre also treats patients suffering from deep decubital ulcers who have beenneglected at home or by public hospitals. The staff receive many calls for help and of-ten have to search to locate the patient’s home. They ask for directions: ‘It is hereemaBhananeni (= at the bananas)! Go to ekuJulukeni (=placename meaning “in thesweat”), carry on to the Bumba river, cross it at the low level bridge and carry on untilyou get to a rusty scrap tractor next to the road in a ditch. Turn right there up the hillwhere the banana plants are. I will wait for you there.’ When the ambulance crew fi-

2. South Africa: a work that shapes lives and saves livesA holistic care system with cultural sensitivity

Fr. Gerard Lagleder,O.S.B. Founder and President of the

Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard in

Mandeni, South Africa, a relief

organisation of the Order of Malta

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The Care Centre and hospice comfort thesick and the dying who would otherwisesuffer alone and untreated

nally arrives, they may have to drive for another half hour, on a pedestrian track, untilthey find the patient in a dilapidated clay hut with a thatched roof.

The Child and Youth Care Centre: not just an orphanageA part of the Blessed Gérard Centre is its Child and Youth Care Centre. The fate ofmany children in the wider Mandeni area, who are neglected, abandoned, abused ororphaned (especially because of their parents dying from AIDS), prompted the Broth-erhood of Blessed Gérard to start the project. It is a home for children who otherwisewould have no future. It is not just an orphanage. ‘We provide a cosy home, love, se-curity and medical treatment to abandoned, previously neglected, physically, mental-ly and sexually abused, HIV-positive and sick, handicapped and orphaned children be-tween birth and adulthood. We raise them as well as we can.’ For the Hospice Fr. Gerard explains: ‘We somehow have redefined the aim of ‘hospice’from purely palliative end-of-life-care to providing optimal care and treatment.’ Thenow well established HAART treatment for AIDS (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Ther-apy) is effective. Without treatment, life expectancy is plus or minus twelve monthsand sufferers are socially marginalised. With the treatment, AIDS will not shorten lifeand Fr. Gerard advises patients: ‘Choose treatment – choose life!’ He is proud thatthousands have been reintegrated into their local communities. In mid 2017, the Centre set up an ‘assisted living and occupation’ facility for youngadults who have been wards of Blessed Gérard's Children's Home and attended spe-cial schools. ‘We experienced that they have hardly any chance to live independentlyand to get any form of employment so we continue to help them,’ he explains.Future plans: Fr. Gerard dreams of establishing a nursing school to provide profes-sional training for enrolled nursing assistants in a one-year-course. What has working with the patients taught him? Fr. Gerard doesn’t hesitate: ‘Patiencewith the patients (“Europeans have a watch, Africans have time”) and with myself(“One step at a time!”); respect for their beliefs, traditions, customs and culture andthe necessity of cultural sensitivity in our approach; trust in God as the only absolutelyreliable anchor and rescue vessel in an ocean of misery; admiration of their re-silience, their thankfulness even for small things, their musical talent, their spirit.’

To feel needed and useful is a privilegeWhat inspires him? That he feels needed and useful, that he is privileged to follow thegreat examples of Blessed Gérard, founder of the Order, of St John Baptist, of StBenedict of Norcia, of St Teresa of Calcutta, all of whom were dedicated to caring forthe sick and the poor. He is inspired, too, by the knowledge that the work of the Broth-erhood gives value to the lives of the patients they care for, to the lives and dignity ofthe volunteers, to the efforts at finding jobs for those they have supported – and thuscreating a tremendous impact on the society. At the Centre’s 25th anniversary celebrations in November 2017 Fr. Gerard paid trib-ute to the wonderful African volunteers he works with: ‘You are the smiles that ourpatients get, you are the hugs that our children so dearly need.’

The Brotherhood of Blessed GérardFounded in 1992 at Mandeni, the relief organisation of the Order of Malta inSouth Africa, through its Care Centre for the poor and needy and people livingwith HIV/AIDS, runs health care projects: AIDS care and hospice; child care-pre-primary school, a children’s home, malnutrition clinic; relief and socialcare projects, including a first aid and emergency service and disaster relief.For more information: www.bsg.org.za


Colonel Guido StöckliFounder and Director of the

‘Aide et Assistance’ Foundation

For over twenty years, the Swiss Association of the Order of Malta has been collectingrelief goods – second hand materials in good condition, such as hospital beds, schooldesks and chairs, blankets, clothing, bicycles - and sending them to those in need inother countries. This network stretches across the world, from Asia, to Africa, toEastern Europe, to South America. Now established as the Aid and Assistance Foun-dation since 2013, the work continues unabated.

How it all beganThe project was started in 1994 by Guido Stöckli, who had retired early from profes-sional military service – and promptly took on another very large task. He had ob-served that, with the Swiss Army about to reduce its size, there were considerablestocks of never used hospital material, and medical and surgical equipment nolonger needed and likely to be thrown away. Liaising between the army and the Orderof Malta Swiss Hospitaller Service, the recycling project got underway.Stöckli organised a network of volunteers, many of whom were former colleagues. Itis a network which has grown exponentially over the years and with the invaluablehelp, things literally took off. The logistics required at startup were demanding: tocreate more networks - 1) of contacts who wished to donate well-kept disused or old-er equipment. These were, and are, mainly hospitals and clinics all over Switzerland,as well as companies producing medical equipment; 2) to set up a warehouse to storethe donated goods (located in Flamatt); 3) to establish a database of institutions incountries needing these supplies. Still today, the practicalities mean that all large items, such as hospital beds, mustbe flat packed as much as possible to save container space for shipping. Transport tothe various countries must be organised. Sponsors must be found to pay for thetransport, which is by truck and/or ship. The Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) has generously provided financial support for the shipping and theSwiss Army gives practical support for transports inside Switzerland. In the packingpreparations, all indications of price have to be deleted, otherwise the customs au-thorities of the importing country might consider the goods as commercial and re-quest duty.

All the action is carefully planned and all the work is done by volunteersAt the receiving end, other vital contacts are organised, working with the Order’s Am-bassadors to make sure all custom papers are prepared in advance, to avoid importduties on the materials. The receiving institution organises local delivery and official-ly notifies the Foundation of the shipment’s arrival. M. Stöckli explains: ‘The action isplanned very carefully by diplomatic representations in Switzerland or representa-

Creating a supply organisationSwitzerland: a specialised recycling operation Creating a network of care across the world

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A network of institutions acrossSwitzerland aids in donating equipmentand non-perishable goods for Aide et Assistance

tives of the Sovereign Order of Malta locally. The sovereign status and the tradition ofthe Order are recognised in about 80 % of all countries. During the planning phase weconsider carefully the nature of the goods to be shipped and the necessary manpowerto prepare the shipment. All the work is voluntary. ‘Following delivery of the goods, many touching thank you letters arrive at the Foun-dation. For example, from the religious director of a residential home in eastern Slo-vakia: ‘Thanks to the Aide et Assistance donation, the living quality of our seniors hassignificantly improved’; from the parish priest assigned to a seniors home in Chile:‘Without a doubt, the acquisitions that I detail below will greatly improve the qualityof life of our residents and will allow active and healthy ageing: we received 12 clinicalbeds, 4 wheelchairs, 6 walking frames, 8 padded chairs, 5 table lamps and severalboxes of small extras – pencils, paper and so on.’New in 2017 was a cooperation arrangement with the Swiss Red Cross for projects inBosnia and Kyrgyzstan, and a 2% increase in the volume of transported goods. Withtwo transports every week, 129 semi-trailers carried goods covering 9,000 cubic me-tres, including 2,760 electric beds and 800 school desks. The estimated commercialvalue was 18 million Swiss francs. As M. Stöckli emphasises: ‘Such help is only possible through the work of all themany voluntary helpers from our sections and our volunteers in the warehouse.’

Sending aid around the worldSince 1994: over 1,230 semi-trailers and maritime containers havetransported goods with a total volume of 105,000 cubic metres, weighingover 46,000 tons, to the value of 420 million Swiss francs. The benefittingcountries in Europe are: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary,Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine; in South America:Chile, Guyana, Venezuela; in Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius.For more information: www.aidass.ch


The aim of the Al Fadi Centre in Chabrouh, a little north east of Beirut, is to bring love,joy, comfort and friendship into the hard lives of disabled people in Lebanon. TheCentre, established in the 1980s and developed by young volunteers from the Orderof Malta in the late 1990s, is now a permanent holiday destination offering love andcare to its disabled guests. The issue of disability is a problem in Lebanon – families often feel shame at havinga disabled child, the government does not offer support for people with disabilities,and consequently the result is to put the child into an institution. With the institutionsvery overworked and reliant on non-government funds, their charges tend to missout on one-to-one affection. This is why each disabled guest at Chabrouh is pairedwith a volunteer for complete care and attention. The motto at Chabrouh: “Our guestsare our lords, and we are here to serve them.”

Teaching how to loveMelkite Father Romanos Bou Assi, Director of the Centre, explains that for the vol-unteers ‘The camp experience encourages them to think deeply about the meaningof their own lives.’ The President of the Order’s Lebanese Association, MarwanSehnaoui, who follows the Centre’s work very closely, adds: ‘As we look at the worldaround us, and its problems, it is clear that something is missing. Which is why wedecided that the spirituality of this house is to teach how to love. Because a worldwithout love cannot work.’ The first volunteer team of 26 young people from Germany arrived in Chabrouh in thesummer of 1998 to start up the first camp, and offer a holiday to disabled children.By 2003, the project could operate for two months with two teams running six camps.And in 2005, the Lebanese Association of the Order of Malta organised the first winterChristmas camp. After a two year interval due to the war in Lebanon, the service wasable to offer three camps in 2008. A year later, the Order of Malta founded the CAR-AVAN programme (see BOX).From year to year, the Chabrouh project has developed, continuing to attract youngOrder of Malta volunteers from many parts of the world. By 2012, there were 15camps, in 2016, 18 camps and 12 national delegations. Now, there are 26 camps, in-cluding those run exclusively by the Order’s Lebanese Youth Group. For both guestsand volunteers, the numbers continue to grow, and the camps are now open all year.The 620 recent guests included underprivileged children, the disabled and the elderlywith, for the first time, child cancer survivors – all cared for with love by the currentcrop of 930 volunteers from nine national delegations: Czech Republic, France, Ger-many, Italy, Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom.The day always starts with a group prayer, Mass is offered most days, and a range of

Coordinating an international programme1. Lebanon: a holiday respite which brings hope

and joy to disabled guestsIndividual care and attention changes lives

Patrick Jabre Project Manager, Chabrouh camps

Oumayma Farah Lebanese Association

communications

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activities, from hiking, to olive picking, to theatre plays, ‘Olympic’ games and an out-ing to the beach are all up for guests to enjoy.Every guest is received with the highest regard and the volunteers focus on makingtheir time at Chabrouh as joyful as possible. These, the Order’s youth from manycountries, give intense service in Chabrouh and at the same time form strong inter-national friendships with their fellow volunteers. The Chabrouh Centre hopes that its contribution will transform doubt into love, thatpeace will one day reign across the Middle East, that Lebanese Christians will feelthey are not alone, and that they can trust in the future of Christianity in Lebanon andthe region.

Order of Malta’s Caravan programme for theyoung – a meaningful and exciting gap year

“A questioning, challenging and beautiful adventure”Marie-Liane, VolunteerThe Order of Malta CARAVAN project enables youngadults older than 18 years to spend ten months inLebanon and have the experience of getting to know dif-ferent people, different cultures, different religions. The missionTo serve the sick and the poor and make their life morecolourful.To show young western Christians the charisma of the Or-der of Malta and enable them to become future ambas-sadors of the Order’s cause of peace and reconciliation inthe Middle East, in their home country. To strengthen mutual trust and understanding betweenyoung people of different religions.What does the name CARAVAN symbolise?It originates from when young men wanting to join the Or-der of Malta spent two preparation years, called Caravans,in Malta. It was a time of training in the Order’s most im-portant duties - caring for the sick and the military de-fence of Malta. The candidates had to serve in the Order’shospitals on the island.

What the CARAVAN programme offers• Service for mentally retarded and physically disabledpeople• Arabic language course; university courses: Middle Eastreligion and culture• Ten months of fun, broadening horizons and makingnew friends• Field trips, overwhelming Lebanese hospitality and daz-zling Beirut.The course is scored at 16 ECTS points and is taught by pro-fessors at the Universite Saint Joseph. Language is English. Where Caravan’s services operate Work takes place in three care homes for the severely dis-abled. The duty of the ‘Caravanistas’: set up a programmeof activities, conduct basic simple physiotherapy, give timeand love to those who need it. Their main task is to reducethe loneliness and unhappiness of the disabled in theirnormal course of life. Nationalities who have attended: Austria, Belgium, CzechRepublic, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands,Singapore, Switzerland, United States.

Benedicta SolfProject Management Assistant, Caravan AlumniFor more information about the Alumni-Circle of Caravan –http://orderofmalta-caravan.squarespace.com/volunteers/

The Order runs summer camps inLebanon for disabled youngsters as wellas for young adults


The Cuban Association’s energetic hospitaller describes their recent activitiesThe hospitaller for the Order’s Cuban Association, Dr. D.José Joaquín Centurión yLópez-Oña, looks back on a very busy year during which the Association’s worksgave continuing support to people in need in Cuba, Miami, Haiti, Columbia and Do-minican Republic. He records: ‘These activities represent more than the (very appre-ciated) donations of money and time. They are carried out by members of our Asso-ciation, and benefactors and friends of the Association. We also acknowledge thesignificant collaboration of the Dominican Association of the Sovereign Order of Mal-ta who assist us in our missions in Santiago de los Caballeros, as well as the assis-tance given by the Colombian Association of the Order of Malta in the Duni Project,Sierra Nevada.’

Support in CubaThe Association continues its sponsorship of projects in 69 Cuban parishes, includ-ing four dispensaries of the Siervas de Maria, a centre for children with Down syn-drome and a housing project for retired priests in Havana. A new office, set up inVedado in 2016, is proving very effective in coordinating a range of projects on the is-land. These include serving more than 700,000 meals every year to 13,000 elderlyand needy, in 62 ‘comedores populares’ (soup kitchens) in the parishes. The centresreport back every four months on number of meals served, number of recipients,number of volunteers and how many weeks in the year the service operated. JJ Cen-turion describes some examples: ‘In the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba, 181 peopleare helped every day – 121 of them are lonely elderly or have disabilities. The Centreserves around 4,525 meals a month. At the Santisima Trinidad church, 130 benefi-ciaries receive 3,120 meals monthly – 50 at the church’s Centre, 80 delivered tohomes.’

The Dominican Republic missionFrom September 2016 through February 2018, four medical missions, led by DrsJorge Echenique and JJ Centurion brought 88 doctors and nurses to the ILAC Centre(Institute for Latin American Concern) in Santiago, Dominican Republic, to offertheir skills to local patients free of charge. Each mission lasted four days, witharound 1,000 patients treated, many seeing more than one specialist in the time.The wide range of care includes cardiology, internal medicine, paediatrics, generalsurgery, dentistry and radiology. The teams also brought with them donated quanti-ties of medications, with a value of USD$ 750,000, plus surgical equipment. Theywere accompanied by Fr. Ernesto Travieso who offered spiritual guidance, dailyMass and spiritual exercises.

2. Cuba: Reaching out to people in need in Latin Americaand the CaribbeanA vital medical and social support

José JoaquínCenturionHospitaller, Cuban Association

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These missions have been carried out for years, and are organised with the localcommunities’ ‘Cooperadores de Salud’ who assist in the health project across 160communities around the Cibao Valley region. With all the volunteers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and translators donatingtheir time and each paying their own expenses, the missions are performed at nocost to the Cuban Association. In addition, members of the Dominican Associationoffer assistance with facilitating the medications through Customs.

Completion of a medical centre in Colombia: the ‘Duni project’The Cuban Association, in partnership with the Order’s Colombian Association andMalteser International, has recently completed a medical assistance centre, a cleanwater system and solar panels, in Bunkwimake, in the isolated mountain area of theColumbian Sierra Nevada forest. ‘Duni’ means ‘thank you’ in the local Arhuaco lan-guage. The aim is to improve the health of the 3,000 essentially marginalised peoplefrom the Archuaco and Kogi tribes who live in these remote villages and to coordi-nate efforts with the government health authorities. A project for the possibilities oftelemedicine is underway, as well as funding for students to study medical arts atthe University of Magdalena, in the city of Santa Marta, Magdalena.

Education in HaitiIn northern Haiti, the Cuban Association has been concentrating on medical educa-tion, arranging for nurses to be trained in basic life support by the American HeartAssociation. The nurses are now the educators who can teach local nurses and lead-ers how to perform cardio-respiratory resuscitation in emergency situations.

Emergency support after Hurricane Maria, Puerto RicoHurricane Maria, the tenth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, sewed de-struction and death across the arc of islands in the Caribbean and the Antilles. It hitPuerto Rico in late September 2017, creating catastrophic damage. For weeks inMaria's wake, most of the island's population suffered from flooding and lack of re-sources. Total losses were estimated at USD$ 9 billion, mostly in Puerto Rico. TheCuban Association’s Puerto Rico Delegation swung into action and since early Octo-ber 2017 has been giving emergency assistance and funding at two key centres: oneat Punta Santiago, Humacao in the south east, the other in Guaynabo, providing20,700 hot meals, distributing over 22,000 bottles of water, 8,575 packages of non-perishable food items. 206 patients were attended by the Delegation’s doctors. As-sistance is ongoing.

The ‘Casa de Malta’ in MiamiA service centre, the ‘Casa de Malta’, offering healthcare, social support and hu-manitarian aid to the poor in the San Juan Bosco parish in Miami has been runningsince 2008. A range of classes, including English language tuition, health and hy-giene, are provided by 30 regular volunteers.In 2017 the San Juan Bosco Clinic celebrated 25 years of service to the communityof documented and non-documented poor in Miami. Members of the Cuban Associ-ation continue to volunteer their time and over 800 patients are seen every year and,where necessary, are referred to specialists who provide over 2,800 annual visitsfree of charge.

Volunteer medical missions in theDominican Republic treat locals free of charge, attending to thousands of patients each year


The prison population in the United States is currently around 2.2 million. This statis-tic has doubled over the last 35 years. There are many reasons why – poverty, unem-ployment, lack of re-entry services. This population is among society’s most neglect-ed and in great need of support. Recidivism rates are around 60%.The four Order of Malta Associations in North America - the American, Canadian,Federal and Western - have a joint mission, launched with their prison ministry con-ference in 2014. Local activities operate under each Association. Their recognitionwas that prison ministry is a Christian response to the great need of people sufferingin prisons and the need to focus on initiatives to help their re-entry into society. Theoutreach mission has 2,500 members and volunteers around the country.The mission involves visiting county jails, state and federal prisons (minimum, medi-um and maximum security) and death row, producing a quarterly newsletter (55,000are distributed), distributing bibles in English and in Spanish, and running a pen palprogramme to maintain contact with inmates.

The impact of being a pen pal The ‘Pen Pal Program’ involves over 150 Order of Malta members and volunteers whocorrespond six times a year with inmates who have agreed to participate. There mustbe no special favours asked, only first names are used, and the return mailing ad-dress is to the Order of Malta office. The aim is to provide information on currentevents which interest the inmate: it helps instil a positive attitude and demonstratesthat someone cares. The organisation notes that studies show that those in prisonwho correspond with those outside are less likely to return to prison. An inmate’s re-sponse: ‘Your words of encouragement lifted my spirits and were helpful duringstressful times.’ And another: ‘I want to thank you for always thinking of me and pray-ing for me. I love the postcards. They put a smile on my face.’ An inmate on death row:’I can truthfully thank God for all that has happened to me – both good and bad. Look-ing back, it’s sort of interesting that the bad things actually resulted in me getting onthe path towards salvation.’Another activity is the Malta Justice Initiative, started in 2000 to educate and informthe public about the failings of the criminal justice system and the need for reform.It provides assistance for the formerly incarcerated and their families, encouragesservice providers and employers to assist the formerly incarcerated, and participatesin public speaking events to create awareness and to educate the general publicabout the criminal justice system. It is also engaged in encouraging the setting up ofvocational training and skill building, both before and after release.

Gail BerardinoHospitaller, American Association

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3. North America: Restoration, reconciliation, rehabilitationPrison ministry is a key Order mission


Support programmes before and after releaseIn 2014 the Federal Association established its Prison Ministry Committee. Today it isactive in 19 regions and has set up a range of programmes to help the incarceratedand their families. A recent initiative is the Committee’s Restorative Justice Pro-gramme which has been set up to help the inmate to understand his situation, to copewith his life inside and his life afterwards on release. The programme runs over threedays and centres around discussions of the crime and its impact on the prisoner, thenconcentrates on the impact on the community and finally the impact on the victim.Most inmates rarely or never see any family members while they are in prison, sothese discussions are very supportive. The Order members and volunteers have alsoprepared guides for those recently released, which give practical advice and currentinformation on public and private resources related to food, shelter, clothing, medicalsupport, licences.The mission affirms: The incarcerated can see by our words and our actions thatsomeone cares about them and that they have worth as human beings.

Prison life is not easy and many inmatesneed support, both spiritual andpractical. The Order’s prison ministry,now rolled out nationwide, seeks to showthem that they are not forgotten

Prison ministry, Portugal: The importance of trust For almost twenty years, as part of a prison ministry programme, Fra’ Ruy Villas Boas has been providing support and encouragement to inmates of a high security prison in Portugal‘I have been working in prisons since 2000 and it is a commitment that with the years turns into an addiction. In my case Ivolunteer in a High Security Prison so you are with the same people for many years and they have chosen to attend ourregular meetings. From 740 inmates we have 150 who are Catholic. The Prison has two distinct areas according to crimecategories, and we visit two days a week – one for each area, with an average of a little over 60 inmates attending permeeting.We always begin with Mass and afterwards we talk to those who want to discuss their problems. We act as a bridgebetween them and their educators (ie, psychologists).Before becoming a part of the prison ministry programme, one has to attend training sessions. It is also advised that weshould take care not to describe our own lives, for our own security. However helpful the training, I would say that wealways go on learning.Trust is the most important objective – both with the prison hierarchy and with the inmate.’

* www.forbes.com (statistic, 1 July 2016)

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Lisa SimpsonChief Executive, Global Fund

The Global Fund for Forgotten People leverages the resources and global capabilitiesof the Order of Malta to:• encourage, seed and support new initiatives of the Order to help the most vulner-

able• share best practices to extend the highest level of care to those we serve• support the growth and expansion of existing proven projects• help nascent projects increase capacity and achieve sustainability by providing re-

sources, and support skills in fundraising and grant application.

The Global Fund for Forgotten People achieves this by partnering with individuals,foundations and organisations that wish to bring their resources to bear in servingthe most forgotten and marginalised through the Order of Malta.

Many of the initiatives of the Order of Malta are encouraged and amplified throughthe financial support and expertise provided by the Order’s Global Fund for ForgottenPeople. Since its inception, in 2011, the Fund has focussed on raising money for arange of Order of Malta projects which reach out directly to people who would other-wise be forgotten.

The Fund has made over 300 grants to 60 bodies of the Order in 72 countries since itsinception. It is seeking new partners to further extend this work.

The Fund is registered as two legal entities – in England and Wales it is a registeredcharity (1148427) and in the United States it has 501(c)(3) status. The fund has re-ceived generous support from donors all over the world, and aims to provide a tax ef-ficient and direct channel for donors to fulfil their global philanthropic objectives sup-porting the inspiring work of the Order from malnourished families in Korea, to ex-panding elderly care facilities in Cuba and neonatal care in Bethlehem.Through its two legal entities the Fund raises awareness of and support for particularissues which have fallen under the radar, and which struggle to get public attention. The Fund is moving into a next development phase, to incubate and encourage thegrowth of exciting new projects across the Order world, and thus grants for new andfledgling projects now take centre stage. The Fund believes that this early encour-agement is the incentive some ideas need to get off the ground, and as it moves intothis next funding period, the call-up for its services has never been more popular. Inaddition, the Fund is adding capacity building to its range of support - developing andstrengthening the skills and resources needed for projects to thrive.The Global Fund relies on the generosity of its donors to fund the bi-annual grant pro-

Global Fund for Forgotten PeopleBuilding capacity for work of the Order throughout the world

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The Global Fund supports projects fordisadvantaged children in manycountries

gramme and works hard to ensure all the funds are directed to where they have themost impact in support of the forgotten. The Fund has become a vital fundraising re-source for the work of the Order worldwide, both through direct fundraising and grantgiving activities and through fundraising collaborations with national Associations.

www.forgottenpeople.org

306 grants awardedProjects in 72 countries supported Among recent grants:

- For the Lebanese Association, the Fund has helped support the Socio-Medical Centre, Roumthat provides services for 1,800 patients including the local population, Syrian refugees and those in need from over 85surrounding villages.

- For the Order’s Russian Relief Service, the Fund has helped the Mother and Child programmeEstablished in 2016, the programme ‘Mother and Child’ provides provisional shelter and care for more than 50 familieswith young children. Social workers organise daily support for the mothers and their babies, including medical visits andnutritional advice. The project has been expanded, on the request of the Russian government, and participated in a one-offcampaign for emergency food assistance, providing for 125 families.

- For the Djougou Hospital in Benin, run by the Order’s French Association since 1971, the Fund is supporting aprogramme for Improving Care of Pregnant Women, an outreach programme from the hospital. This includes thetreatment of women with obstetrical fistulas, a leading cause of maternal mortality.

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SECTION

With its seat of government in Rome

since 1834, the Grand Master of the

Sovereign Order, together with the

Sovereign Council, its senior governing

body, oversees the extensive activities

and projects of the Order worldwide.

3

The heart ofthe Sovereign

Orderof Malta


1. Paul Biya, Cameroon 2. Vasilica Viorica Dancila, Romania3. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany4. Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia5. Alexander Van der Bellen, Austria

State and Official visits

His Holiness Pope Francis greets the Grand Master for the annual audience, Vatican

2018MONTENEGRO, 8 OCTOBER 2018

Milo Đukanović, President of the Repu-blic of Montenegro is received by Fra’Giacomo Dalla Torre at the MagistralPalace. Discussions included the pro-tection and restoration of the icon ofOur Lady of Philermos, in Cetinje, Mon-tenegro. During the meeting PresidentĐukanović thanked the Order of Maltafor enabling Montenegrin cardiologiststo participate in seminars on cardiova-scular techniques in Naples.

CAMEROON, 16 JULY 2018

On his State Visit to Cameroon, 16-19July, Grand Master Fra’ Giacomo DallaTorre is received by the President of theRepublic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, andvisits the projects of the Order in thecountry.

CAPE VERDE, 2 JULY 2018

Jorge Carlos Fonseca, President of theRepublic of Cape Verde, is received byFra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio diSanguinetto in the Magistral Villa.

HOLY SEE, 22 JUNE 2018

Pope Francis receives Grand MasterFra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre for the annualaudience to mark the feast day of StJohn Baptist. In describing the Order’smany works to the pontiff, Pope Francistells him: ‘Go ahead with courage, youexpress spirituality through your works.’

BENIN, 18 MAY 2018

Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre, receives thePresident of the Republic of Benin, Pa-trice Talon, in the Magistral Palace. The

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SECTION 3 - THE HEART OF THE SOVEREIGN ORDER OF MALTA

Order of Malta has been present in theFrench-speaking African country forover 40 years.

ROMANIA, 11 MAY 2018

The Prime Minister of Romania, Vasili-ca Viorica Dancila, pays an Official Visitto Grand Master Fra’ Giacomo DallaTorre at the Magistral Palace. Duringthe meeting, a Cooperation Agreementis signed between Romania – Ambas-sador Liviu-Petru Zapîrţan - and for theSovereign Order of Malta, AmbassadorStefano Ronca, Secretary General forForeign Affairs.

Germany, 26 April 2018

The Federal Republic of Germany’s firstambassador to the Sovereign Order ofMalta, Annette Schavan, is received inthe Magistral Palace by the Lieutenantof the Grand Master Fra’ Giacomo DallaTorre to present her credentials.

Armenia, 5 April 2018

At the Magistral Villa, the Lieutenant ofthe Grand Master, Fra’ Giacomo DallaTorre del Tempio di Sanguinetto recei-ves the President of Armenia, SerzhSargsyan, on his official visit, which al-so celebrates 20 years of diplomatic re-lations. A 10-Year Cooperation Agree-ment, with the objective of expandingthe Order of Malta’s health and social

activities in the country is signed.

Palestine, 16 February 2018

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pale-stine, Riad El Malki, is received at theGrand Magistry by the General Secreta-ry of the Foreign Affairs department,Ambassador Stefano Ronca. Many is-sues related to the current living condi-tions of the Palestinian communitieswere discussed.

Czech Republic, 25 January 2018

A meeting between the Czech DeputyForeign Minister, Ivo Sramek, and theGrand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta,Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Mon-tbel takes place in Prague. During hisvisit the Grand Hospitaller had talkswith the Czech Republic’s Minister ofHealth and with the Deputy Minister forSocial Affairs.

Liechtenstein, 18 January 2018

The Foreign Minister of the Principalityof Liechtenstein, Aurelia Frick, is recei-ved by the Grand Chancellor of the So-vereign Order of Malta Albrecht Boese-lager. The focus of the meeting coversthe development of projects for integra-ting migrants and refugees.

2017Russia, 22 December 2017

The Order of Malta’s Grand HospitallerDominique de La Rochefoucauld-Mon-tbel visits Moscow for a series of talkswith representatives of Russian autho-rities. Bilateral cooperation in health,social and humanitarian services bet-ween the Russian Federation and theSovereign Order of Malta was the fo-cus of the meetings.

Austria, 16 November 2017

The Lieutenant of the Grand MasterFra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre receives thePresident of Austria, Alexander Van derBellen in the Magistral Villa, Rome.The talks focussed on the excellent re-lations between the Austrian Republicand the Sovereign Order of Malta - apartnership of over two and a half cen-turies. The Cooperation Agreement si-gned in 2006 between the Order of Mal-ta and the Austrian Foreign Ministry re-mains active.

Germany, 15 November 2017

Official visit of the German Foreign Mi-nister, Sigmar Gabriel, for the openingof diplomatic relations between Ger-many and the Order of Malta . The Ger-man Foreign Minister is received by

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Lithuania, 5 September 2017

The President of the Republic of Li-thuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, meetswith the Grand Chancellor AlbrechtBoeselager and Grand Hospitaller Do-minique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbelto discuss cooperation between Lithua-nia and the Order in providing socialand humanitarian support. This yearmarks the 25th anniversary of the esta-blishment of diplomatic relations bet-ween Lithuania and the Sovereign Or-der of Malta. The Prime Minister of Li-thuania Saulius Skvernelis and theGrand Chancellor signed a bilateralCooperation Agreement.

Costa Rica, 5 July 2017

The Lieutenant of the Grand Master Fra’Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di San-guinetto receives the Foreign Minister ofCosta Rica, Manuel A. Gonzalez Sanz.The Minister and Grand Chancellor Al-brecht Boeselager sign a CooperationAgreement.

Holy See, 23 June 2017

Pope Francis receives in the Vaticanthe Lieutenant of the Grand Master.This was the first audience with the Po-pe since Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre delTempio di Sanguinetto was elected onApril 29. At the end of the audience thePope received the Order’s Sovereign

the Order’s Grand Chancellor, AlbrechtBoeselager in the Magistral Villa.

Lebanon, 19 October 2017

The President of Lebanon, Michel NaimAoun, receives the Lieutenant of theGrand Master, Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torreat Baabda Palace, Beirut. Talks centredon the key role the Order contributes,carrying out humanitarian and socialprojects within the country, with 10 me-dical and health centres as well as mo-bile medical units, which provide healthservices to both Lebanese and displa-ced Syrians.

Rome, 5 October 2017

Twenty ambassadors and chargés d’af-faires of European Union countries me-et Albrecht Boeselager, Grand Chancel-lor of the Sovereign Order of Malta, inRome. Topics discussed ranged fromthe migratory crisis scenarios to the ro-le of the two ambassadors ‘at-large’ re-cently appointed by the Order of Malta tocombat the scourge of human traffic-king as well as its interventions in thecrisis zones. Also discussed were theOrder’s cooperation with developingcountries – mainly in the Middle Eastand Africa – and its commitment to hel-ping the most disadvantaged in severalEuropean countries.

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1. Michel Naim Aoun, Lebanon2. Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania 3. Manuel A. Gonzalez Sanz, Costa Rica 4. Aleksey Y. Meshkov, Russia5. Zlatibor Loncar, Serbia

The Order’s flag flies over the QuirinalPalace, seat of the President of theItalian Republic


Council. Afterwards, the delegationwas received by the Vatican Secretaryof State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Russia, 5 June 2017

The Order of Malta’s Grand ChancellorAlbrecht Boeselager receives the Rus-sian Federation’s Deputy Foreign Mini-ster, Aleksey Y. Meshkov in Palazzo Or-sini. The situation in the Middle Eastwas discussed, with particular referen-ce to the humanitarian situation in Sy-ria, the Libyan crisis and the peace pro-cess prospects as well as the migrationflows towards Europe, humanitarian aidand persecution of the Christian com-munity in the world.

International Organizationfor Migration, 4 April 2017

William Lacy Swing, Director General ofthe International Organization for Mi-gration (OIM), is received at the Magi-stral Palace by the Grand Chancellor,Albrecht Boeselager. One of the keyelements of the meeting was the diffi-cult situation in Libya and the prospectsand efforts of IOM and the Order of Mal-ta to reduce migrant smuggling in thecountry.

2016Serbia, 8 December 2016

Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Mal-ta, Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, pays an official visit to the Re-public of Serbia, in response to the in-vitation of Zlatibor Lončar, Minister ofHealth of the Republic of Serbia. Du-ring the discussions, Minister ZlatiborLončar expressed the Government’sgratitude for the important humanita-rian and social activities undertaken inrecent years in Serbia by the Embassyof the Order of Malta, with particularreference to the successful project“Make a WISH to the Sovereign Orderof Malta” which involved granting hun-dreds of disadvantaged children andadolescents their wishes in 2015 and2016. The project continues in 2017/18and going forward.

UNHCR, 1 December 2016

The UN High Commissioner for Refu-gees, Filippo Grandi, meets the GrandChancellor of the Order of Malta, Al-brecht Boeselager at the Magistral Pa-lace in Rome. The main topics of themeeting: the great migration flows, theextremely serious humanitarian emer-gencies throughout the Middle Eastand central Africa, human traffickingalong the main migration routes and

the odyssey of the survivors of the in-creasingly frequent shipwrecks in theMediterranean.

Gabon, 24 November 2016

At the Magistral Palace in Rome, GrandChancellor Albrecht Boeselager receivesthe Minister Delegate of Foreign Affairsof the Republic of Gabon, Calixte NsieEdang. During the meeting a frameworkcooperation agreement is signed.

Albania, 7 November 2016

The Grand Master of the Sovereign Or-der of Malta, Fra’ Matthew Festing re-ceives the President of the Republic ofAlbania, Bujar Nishani, on an official vi-sit. President Nishani expressed hisgratitude for the health and social careprojects that the Order of Malta, withwhom Albania has enjoyed diplomaticrelations for 22 years, is running in thecountry.

Italy, 27 October 2016

The Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Fe-sting is received in the Quirinal Palaceby the President of the Italian Republic,Sergio Mattarella. The meeting focus-sed on the Order’s rescue operationsand healthcare/psychological assistan-ce in central Italy after the 24 Augustearthquake and on the delicate huma-nitarian situation in Libya and the ex-

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Slovenia, 17 October 2016

The Grand Master of the Sovereign Or-der of Malta, Fra’ Matthew Festing re-ceives the President of the Republic ofSlovenia, Borut Pahor on an official visit,with both stressing their desire to stren-gthen cooperation in the health and so-cial care sector. In this regard, the pos-sibility of signing a bilateral agreementwas discussed.

Lithuania, 13 September 2016

From 9 to 12 September, the GrandChancellor of the Sovereign Order ofMalta, Albrecht Boeselager visits Li-thuania for the 25th anniversary cele-brations of the Lithuanian Relief Organi-sation of the Order of Malta. The GrandChancellor also met with, and receivedthanks, from Lithuania’s Prime Minister,Algirdas Butkevičius. He also met withthe Minister of Foreign Affairs, LinasLinkevičius, to discuss cooperation pro-spects.

Holy See, 23 June 2016

Pope Francis receives in audience theGrand Master of the Sovereign Order ofMalta, Fra’ Matthew Festing on the oc-casion of the feast day of St. John theBaptist, the Order of Malta’s patronsaint.

Memorial plaque, Magistral Palace,Rome

tremely serious conflicts in the MiddleEast, with particular concern expres-sed for the Syrians and Iraqis.

Armenia, 24 October 2016

From 22-26 October, Grand Master Fra’Matthew Festing pays a State Visit to Ar-menia. He was received by the Presidentof the Republic, Serzh Sargsyan in thecapital, Yerevan, on 24 October. After fullmilitary honours in the courtyard of thePresidential Palace, the Grand Masterand the President and their delegationsengaged in extended discussions. On 24October the Grand Chancellor of the So-vereign Order of Malta, Albrecht Boese-lager, had discussions with the Ministerof Foreign Affairs, Edward Nalbandian,centring in particular on the situation inthe Middle East, the conflict in Syria andthe drama of the refugees and migrants.On the same day, the Grand Hospitaller,Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Mon-tbel, was received by the Minister of He-alth, Levon Altunyan, and the possibilityof cooperation, focussing on the impro-vement in the rate of infant mortality inthe country, was discussed.


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1. Filippo Grandi, UNHCR2. Calixte Nsie Edang, Gabon 3. Vladimir Makei, Belarus4. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine5. Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Salvador

Costa Rica, 27 May 2016

The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guil-lermo Solís pays an official visit to theGrand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing. Du-ring a working meeting with the respec-tive delegations in the Palazzo Magi-strale it was agreed to further stren-gthen bilateral cooperation.

Belarus, 28 April 2016

The Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boese-lager is received by the Prime Ministerof Belarus, Andrei Kobyakov and the Mi-nister for Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Ma-kei. A joint declaration for the imple-mentation of new humanitarian projectswas signed by the Grand Chancellor andthe Prime Minister in Minsk.

Ukraine, 5 April 2016

The Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Boese-lager, visits Kiev, Ukraine from 4th to6th April. The possibility of developingnew cooperation and humanitarian aidprojects was a key topic of the meetingwith Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.During his visit, Albrecht Boeselagermet Order volunteers and in MaidanSquare paid homage to the victims ofthe revolution. At Kiev State Universitythe Grand Chancellor participated in aconference on ‘The Order of Malta andUkraine – history, present and future’.

Panama, 24 February 2016

The President of the Republic of Pana-ma, Juan Carlos Varela welcomes Fra’Matthew Festing to the Palacio de lasGarzas. At the Santa Maria la AntiguaCatholic University Fra’ Matthew Fe-sting met the board of directors, tea-ching staff and students in the audito-rium of the Santa Maria Catholic Uni-versity (USMA) on 25 February. During aceremony the Grand Master was pre-sented with an honorary doctorate inReligious and Human Science and deli-vered a Lectio Magistralis.

Honduras, 18 February 2016

The President of the Republic of Hondu-ras, Juan Orlando Hernández, receivesFra’ Matthew Festing in the PresidentialPalace in Tegucigalpa. A mutual agree-ment was the need to further stren-gthen bilateral cooperation - healthca-re, controlling natural disasters, andclimate change effects. The Grand Ma-ster referred to the Cooperation Agree-ment signed with Honduras in 2015 andconfirmed the Order of Malta’s supportthrough its Honduran Association andMalteser International to improve thehealth conditions of the Honduran po-pulation.

El Salvador, 15 February 2016

The President of the Republic of El Sal-vador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, recei-ves Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festingin the Presidential Palace on 15 Februa-ry. He confirmed his government’s in-tention to continue to strengthen itsbonds of friendship and cooperationwith the Sovereign Order of Malta, withwhom bilateral diplomatic relations da-te back to 1951. The Legislative Assem-bly of El Salvador receive Fra’ MatthewFesting in solemn audience, as part ofthe celebrations for the 65th anniversa-ry of the establishment of diplomatic re-lations

European Union, 9 February 2016

The Grand Chancellor of the SovereignOrder of Malta, Albrecht Boeselager, isin Brussels for a series of meetings withthe European Union leaders, includingthe Vice President of the EuropeanCommission and Commissioner forBudget and Human Resources, Kristali-na Georgieva.


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Albrecht BoeselagerGrand Chancellor

The role of the Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Order is wide ranging. As head ofthe Order’s executive branch, he is responsible for its foreign policy and diplomaticmissions, and is responsible for Order organisations worldwide. Other responsibilitiesare the representation of the Order to third parties, the carrying out of policy and theinternal administration of the Order, and the coordination of the activities of the Or-der’s government.

Albrecht von Boeselager has been Grand Chancellor since May 2014, and before thatheld the role of Grand Hospitaller for many years. His extensive experience in the lifeand works of the Order stands him in good stead for the onerous role he undertakes.‘We have international challenges to tackle, and we have the chance to be heard,through the means of raising public awareness of problems and threats in the hu-manitarian field,’ he explains. ‘It is how institutions without economic or militarypower to influence decision makers can move politicians to take note, and to includethese concerns in their political agendae.’

The Order’s direct concerns – those in its core competences of emergency aid, com-munity support, care for the elderly, for the homeless, the disabled, abandoned chil-dren, the lonely, the sick – affect and inspire its work and are of great interest andconcern to all humanity.

Diplomacy in action1. Raising public awareness of problems

and threats in the humanitarian field‘Our diplomatic network is an integrated part of our activities’

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With the President of Lithuania, DaliaGrybauskaité, celebrating the 25th

anniversary of diplomatic relations

A combination of these initiatives, and the deep engagement of the Order in the re-cent and current refugee and migrant flows ‘has drawn more public attention to ouractivities. We have many programmes to help them – in their countries of origin,along the way and in the host countries, where integration is a priority. That affectsthe political sphere too, as well as our diplomatic network, which is an integrated partof our activities in this field. Many countries have become aware of this, and of the im-pact of our support.’

What are the challenges for the future? The Grand Chancellor responds: ‘There is adecreasing security situation in many parts of the world. There are the effects of cli-mate change – which is often the reason for migration – as well as its unknowns.There are the continuing movements of peoples. There is the need always to reinforcehuman and Christian values – not only humanitarian ones, but also the dignity of life,the protection of the frail elderly, the respect for religious beliefs.’

In his many journeys to meet government representatives and to inspect activities ofthe Order all over the world, there are experiences of its dedicated workers – medical,social, administrative - that are not easy to forget. Sometimes it is the stories hehears, sometimes it is what he sees himself. For example, the Italian doctor on oneof the Italian Guardia di Finanza rescue boats off Lampedusa who said: ‘We leaneddown to help refugees on a sinking rubber raft. It was night, and very dark. Everythinghappened very fast. There were five of them. In the time and the rolling seas I couldonly manage to reach one and pull him clear. Every night I see the eyes of the fourwho were lost.’ And another medico, still on the boats: a terrified mother, in the wa-ter, holding her baby clear. ‘I grabbed him. A wave crashed against the side of the boatand when it subsided, the mother was gone.’ Or yet, a leper hiding behind a tree nearhis remote Cambodian hut, ‘because he was afraid to be with people, to be touched,he was an outcast. We went to greet him and when we left, he followed us, beforeturning back to his isolation. We do what we do for “our lords, the sick”, seeing inthem the face of Christ. And he, too, represents Christ.’


Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-MontbelGrand Hospitaller

The Grand Hospitaller reviews his first four yearsSince taking office four years ago, the Grand Hospitaller, Dominique de La Rochefou-cauld-Montbel, has visited projects and programmes of the Order of Malta in 28countries – some more than once – and another 12 in the two years before that. Hisresponsibilities reach across five continents, and in these years he has seen impor-tant changes in the Order’s mission. La Rochefoucauld-Montbel particularly notes that the Order’s voice in the internation-al humanitarian arena – advocating human rights, advocating awareness of the dra-matic consequences of unresolved human trafficking, advocating the involvement offaith-based institutions in humanitarian aid – is increasingly important in world af-fairs. ‘We can now promote what we do and give our position as a Catholic institutionin the field,’ he says. ‘We provide advocacy, solutions, assess and work with migrants’problems (which are different from those of refugees). We give opinions, solutions, ad-vice – these activities, shared by us all, give us a voice. For example, I spoke recentlyat the Vatican’s Conference on Global Health.’ And a new initiative, following the appeal of Pope Francis, is our annual observationof the World Day of the Poor each November, with special actions and awarenesscampaigns in our organisations worldwide – it is part of our global commitment topeople in need. Just one example – we provided a special lunch for homeless childrenin Juba, South Sudan, on the day. How has this development come about? He explains:the Order currently has over 40,000 employees, in addition to its members and volun-teers. Together, they make up a sizeable force.

A force for action. A force for good‘We have an army of over 140,000 people, who are skilled in a wide variety of ways –for example, from professors to analysts to logicians to managers of healthcare cen-tres, to project builders. They all contribute at a very high level of expertise and expe-rience. We work together to respond to the Order’s commitment. There is great good-will and cooperation between the entities of the Order to develop and maintain ourprojects, which now number over 2,000. He reflects: Since the middle of the last century there has been an extraordinary de-velopment in Europe: the fortunes of the Order grew, then declined, then grew again– for example, Germany and Italy after the war, France after Biafra, from the 1980sand 1990s the expansion of the Order’s care homes in Britain, the extending projectsof Ordre de Malte France, the German organisation which works together with thechurch. Now, today, the young generation wants to get involved, as they can see thereis commitment and there are projects they wish to get involved in.’Responding to current needs has always been a strength of the Order. The Grand

2. A global commitment to people in needThe Order’s voice in the international humanitarian arena – a force for good

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Grand Hospitaller congratulatesvolunteer teams from the Order’s PolishRelief Organisation who work in medicaland social assistance projects around thecountry

Hospitaller says that right now, that response is particularly focussed on migrantsand refugees. He notes that in Germany the Order has extensive experience of caringfor these groups, since the events of 1989 – and this brings the know-how which pro-motes the sharing of advice and experience. And he observes that the needs of thesegroups are the same needs – the people come from different countries, but theirneeds are the same: for clean water, sanitation, hygiene, food, activities.Because of the Dublin Agreement there is now a more consistent policy towards asy-lum seekers. [The Dublin Agreement is a European Union (EU) law that determines theEU Member State responsible for examining an application for asylum seekers seek-ing international protection under the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Di-rective, within the European Union.]. With the influx in Europe, the Order is integratingthe policies of healthcare, facilities and training, and providing services through part-nerships. For example, partnerships are very effective in Turkey and in north Lebanon.As well, the Order is known as a trustworthy partner for funding institutions and its na-tional Associations can therefore help with facilities in countries of origin.

The refugee’s burning question: when can I go back home?For the refugee, the burning questions are always: ‘when can I go back home? Or –where can I go?’ In Lebanon, in the various camps, the Order is caring for about 120-150 families in each, providing food, water, healthcare. There are always long queues.Allocations to the camps are assigned monthly, so that they are of a ‘human’ size. La Rochefoucauld pauses to explain the significance of the Cooperation Agreementsthe Sovereign Order signs with other States, clarifying why they are important, andhow they help facilitate the development of projects for those in need: ‘A CooperationAgreement is linked to our sovereignty and our diplomatic network works at the coun-try’s most senior levels. We have different partnerships in different countries, workingwith governments, creating a link of trust. That link involves us via our Foreign Affairsdepartment and my Hospitaller department and the care we provide centres on medi-co-social assistance. For example, in Russia our two entities operate under Russianlaw. In Palestine, this diplomatic network helped facilitate the relations of our HolyFamily Hospital in Bethlehem with the government. And when I opened the 80-bedhospital we support in Ivory Coast, which is run by Ordre de Malte France, guests in-cluded representatives of the government as well as the Church.’ In all of this, hesums up: ‘The common threads are trust, our sovereignty, our presence.’ As he dash-es off to his next commitment, he pauses to mention the impact of personal memoriesin all these endeavours: ‘It is the smiles of the children. Always that. Recently I visiteda nutrition programme we are running in Cambodia for undernourished youngsters,and it was their shy smiles that stayed with me. But it could have been any of the pro-jects where we care for children who in many different ways are disadvantaged.’


Oscar R. de RojasSovereign Order’s Ambassador

to the United Nations in New York

Since 1994 the Sovereign Order of Malta has maintained official Observer status atthe United Nations, facilitating not only its multilateral diplomatic activities, but alsoits bilateral ones. Because the Order has diplomatic relations with 108 countries, allof which are represented at the United Nations, the UN is a fundamental arena forpursuing an active presence of the Order, as a unique observer entity. The UN pro-vides a stage where the Order can show its work and contribute with its rich expertiseto global deliberations on a wide array of relevant issues, ranging from developmentto human rights, from humanitarian assistance to international law. The fundamentalpurpose of the Order’s Mission to the UN is thus to help enhance our presence andparticipation in global concerns and cooperation efforts – at the international, nation-al and regional levels – and promote fields of potential effective collaboration in areassuch as humanitarian aid and emergency relief.

In this light, in March 2017, during the 61st Commission on the Status of Women, de-voted to the theme of ‘Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world ofwork‘, the Mission delivered a statement which highlighted the Order of Malta’s workin empowering and educating women, mentioning, among other examples, the HolyFamily Hospital in Bethlehem, where respectful and dignified care is given to womenand children regardless of religion, race or ethnicity, and the three-year project ‘Savea child from AIDS‘ in Mexico, which helps HIV positive mothers to protect their new-borns from HIV infection. The Mission also helped organise several relevant sideevents. With Malteser International Americas, we co-sponsored an interactive paneldiscussion entitled, ‘Women caught in the global refugee crises: offering hope andopportunity in despair‘. The Mission also contributed to a panel discussion hosted bythe Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See, entitled: ‘Economically empower-ing trafficking survivors to stay permanently off the streets‘.

On 27-28 September and 2 October 2017 the Mission actively participated in the UNGeneral Assembly High-Level Meeting on the Appraisal of the United Nations GlobalPlan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, with a delegation headed by H.E.Ambassador Michel Veuthey, Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Traffick-ing in Persons. On that occasion, the UN General Assembly adopted a ‘Political dec-laration on the implementation of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to CombatTrafficking in Persons‘. The Declaration stresses how human trafficking impacts theweakest and most vulnerable and is often linked with gender, racial and other formsof discrimination, and points to the priority need to counter these crimes and theirperpetrators, and to establish a stable and strong common framework, together withgovernment agencies and civil society, to fight to put and end to this atrocity.

3. The Sovereign Order as a unique Observerentity at the United NationsEnhancing our presence in global concerns

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In 32 African countries, the Order isworking to provide medical programmesand micro finance projects to alleviatedisease and poverty

The opportunity of the high-level meeting also served to hold many bilateral meetingsand to participate in interactive panel discussions and other side events, where Mem-ber States, Observer organisations and civil society entities appraised the humantrafficking situation worldwide and vowed to coordinate efforts at various levels tocombat it, while at the same time continuing to provide help and assistance to victimsand survivors, especially women and children.

In this same vein, the Mission of the Order made statements in the Second (Economicand Financial) and Third (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural), Committees of the Gen-eral Assembly, regarding the topics of, respectively, eradication of poverty and theprotection of the rights of children.

The Grand Hospitaller of the Sovereign Order of Malta, H.E. Dominique de LaRochefoucauld-Montbel, participated in the 71st UN General Assembly session inNew York and spoke at a high-level meeting on ‘Large Movements of Refugees andMigrants‘. He accentuated the urgent need for enduring development programmes,to help prevent human suffering worldwide. During his stay, the Grand Hospitaller al-so participated in a round table on addressing the vulnerability of refugees and mi-grants, organised by the Mission of the Holy See.

One of the most important topics recently considered at the UN is that of refugees andmigrants. The Permanent Missions of the Order, both in New York and Geneva, close-ly followed the processes of the ‘Global Compact for a Safe, Orderly and Regular Mi-gration’. The agreements, as well as that on Refugees, constitute important mile-stones for international cooperation on migration and refugee-related issues andchallenges, including facilitating the positive contributions that migrants andrefugees can make to strengthening national harmony and international solidarity.

The Order has thus reiterated that it is of priority importance to ensure assistance tomigrants, refugees, victims and survivors, to promote equality, countering discrimi-nation and ensuring respect for human rights as keys to achieving lasting solutionsand peace, and to endorse sustainable development.


A special role is played by faith-based actors in today’s international humanitarianarchitecture. However, it can be further improved with better usage of the uniquestrengths of religious institutions and faith-based organisations (FBOs). ‘Faith lead-ers and FBOs in humanitarian contexts are not only able to deliver critical services dur-ing crisis but to do so with a unique wisdom of compassion and reconciliation.’ (CardinalAntonio Tagle, President, Caritas International).

In May 2016 the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) was held in Istanbul, con-vened by the then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was a call toaction to reduce suffering and deliver aid more effectively to people caught in hu-manitarian crises. The 9,000 participants - 180 member States and hundreds of civilsociety and non-governmental organisations - committed to the Secretary-Gener-al’s Agenda for Humanity, with its five core responsibilities: prevent and end conflict;respect rules of law; leave no one behind; work differently to end need; invest in hu-manity.

The Order of Malta, fully committed through its Permanent Observer Missions to theUN in New York and Geneva, under the guidance of the Grand Magistry of the Order,organised on 27 May 2015, together with the UN Secretariat of the WHS, a sympo-sium at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The topic, ‘Religions together for humani-tarian action – Reaching out to victims of armed conflicts: the special role of faith-basedactors,’ brought together 400 participants from Member States, UN agencies, inter-national governmental and non-governmental organisations, academia and reli-gious institutions to deliberate the issue. The result was practical and concreteideas as to how the faith-based community can enhance the international humani-tarian system, including: -establishing new approaches for cooperation between faith-based actors, -empowering local communities, -creating a coherent approach and action between FBOs/institutions and humani-tarian aid.

In September 2016, following on from the WHS, within the UN General Assembly,Heads of State discussed migration and refugees issues. The outcome was the NewYork Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, and a process which culminated in theplanned adoption in 2018 of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Com-pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

4. Through its humanitarian diplomacy the Sovereign Order has a special roleThe strengths of faith-based organisations to deliver critical services

Marie-TheresePictet-AlthannSovereign Order’s Ambassador

to the United Nations in Geneva

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Further opportunities to illustrate the Order of Malta’s commitment to its two prin-ciples obsequium pauperum and tuitio fidei are events organised by the United Na-tions and Member States on various occasions. Since its first edition in 2016, thePermanent Mission is invited to speak at the annual Interfaith Dialogue held duringUN World Interfaith Harmony Week.

At a special event in November 2017, organised by the Permanent Observer Missionsof the Holy See, the Order of Malta, and the International Catholic Migration Com-mission and the International Organisation for Migration, the Order of Malta’s Per-manent Observer shared good practices, in particular from the Order’s migrationprojects in Germany in the fields of integration, as well as medical and spiritual as-sistance.

The Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue regularlyinvites the Order of Malta to participate in its panel discussions on Islam and Chris-tianity at the Palais des Nations. Invited to join the Sponsoring Committee, the Orderof Malta was a keynote speaker on the recent panel: ‘The case-study of migrants,refugees and internally displaced persons’.

These examples provide an insight into the Order of Malta’s world-wide engagementin promoting the role of FBOs and religious institutions through its multilateral hu-manitarian diplomacy.

The Order of Malta, through itsPermanent Observer Mission in Geneva,addresses key international meetings onhumanitarian issues


GEORGIA22 October 2018In the prime minister’s residence inTbilisi, a Memorandum of Cooperationis signed between the government ofGeorgia, represented by the Head ofthe Georgia Emergency ManagementService, Shalva Khutsishvili, and for theSovereign Order of Malta, AmbassadorMarcello Celestini. The Memorandumcovers natural disaster prevention, or-ganisation and response, and emer-gency medical aid. The Sovereign Orderhas had diplomatic relations with Geor-gia for twenty years.

Romania11 May 2018The Prime Minister of Romania, VasilicaViorica Dancila, pays an Official Visit toGrand Master Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torreat the Magistral Palace. During themeeting, a Cooperation Agreement issigned between Romania – Ambas-sador Liviu-Petru Zapîrtan, and for theSovereign Order of Malta, AmbassadorStefano Ronca, Secretary General forForeign Affairs.

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Expanding health and socialcare activities Recent Cooperation Agreements

At right:Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbelsigns a Cooperation Agreement betweenthe Order and the Rome Bambino GesuHospital’s President, Mariella EnocPage 65:Signing the Cooperation Agreement withRomania


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Armenia5 April 2018During the Official Visit of the Presidentof the Republic of Armenia, SerzhSargsyan, and the Order’s Lieutenantof the Grand Master, Fra’ Giacomo Dal-la Torre, a 10-year Cooperation Agree-ment with the objective of expandingthe Order of Malta’s health and socialactivities in the country is signed.

Lithuania5 September 2017Lithuania: Prime Minister of Lithuania,Saulius Skvernelis, and the GrandChancellor, signed a bilateral coopera-tion agreement providing social and hu-manitarian support.

Costa Rica5 July 2017Costa Rica: Minister Gonzalez Sanz andGrand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselagersigned a Cooperation Agreement, set-ting out the general framework andstrategy for promoting the humanitari-an and healthcare actions of the Orderin Costa Rica.

Indian Ocean Commission4 July 2I017IOC (Indian Ocean Commission): Coop-eration Agreement signed by IOC’sSecretary General Hamadi Madi andthe Grand Hospitaller Dominque de LaRochefoucauld-Montbel in the field ofhealth and medical assistance.

Gabon24 November 2016Cooperation Agreement between theOrder of Malta and Gabon is signed inthe Magistral Palace, a frameworkAgreement for humanitarian purposes.Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselagerreceives the Minister Delegate of For-eign Affairs of the Republic of Gabon,Calixte Nsie Edang.

Holy See14 September 2016Grand Hospitaller Dominque de LaRochefoucauld-Montbel and MariellaEnoc, president of the Bambino GesuHospital, sign the Agreement, whichstates that the Hospital of the Holy Seewill provide vocational support to the

staff of the Holy Family Hospital, the re-ferral centre for maternity in Palestine.Under the accord, doctors and nursesin the Bethlehem hospital will partici-pate in training courses under theaegis of the missions organised by theBambino Gesu hospital in this city.

Albania15 June 2016The Sovereign Order of Malta and theRepublic of Albania sign in Tirana aCooperation Agreement. The purposeof the agreement is to strengthen andpromote the hospitaller, health care,education and disaster risk reductionsprojects of the Order of Malta in thecountry. The agreement was signed bythe Albanian Deputy Minister of For-eign Affairs, Odeta Barbulluschi and bythe Ambassador of the Sovereign Or-der of Malta to Albania, StefanoPalumbo.


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Communicators Forum, Rome, Italy5-6 October, 2018Bi-annual meeting of Order communi-cators from around the world to reviewbest practices and communicationstools.

2nd Migration and Refugees conference, European organisationalmanagers, Rome, Italy11-12 April 2018Operational managers of the Order ofMalta’s projects in Italy, France, Ger-many, Austria, Czech Republic, Hun-gary and Malteser International, theOrder of Malta’s international reliefagency, discuss challenges and bestpractice for long-term interventions formigrants and refugees including man-aging migrant assistance, receptionand integration projects.

Meeting of the Francophone Ambas-sadors of the Order, Rome, Italy24 March 2018An annual meeting to review the worksand strategies of the Order in Frenchspeaking countries.

26th Hospitallers meeting, Budapest,Hungary22-25 March 2018The President of the Order’s HungarianAssociation, Kristof de Szasbadhegyand the Hungarian Hospitaller, LorándEross, host, welcome 75 participants.The meeting was chaired by the GrandHospitaller of the Order, Dominique deLa Rochefoucauld-Montbel, for the Or-der’s leaders of charitable activitiesaround the world. Participants repre-sented 32 Order organisations world-wide and as many nationalities.

International reviewsstrengthen activitiesRecent conferences

At right:Seventh Asia Pacific Conference,Singapore, 2017Page 67:International Strategic Seminar, Rome,2018


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International strategic seminar onconstitutional reform of the SovereignOrder of Malta, Rome, Italy8-11 February 2018140 members from the five continentsmeet, together with the SovereignCouncil members, the leaders of themore than 50 territorial entities aroundthe world, and the participants of the 10international working groups who elab-orated the proposals for reform. Thereform aims to renew the forms of theOrder founded on the same principlesthat inspired its creation and actions al-most a thousand years ago.

7th Asia Pacific Conference, Singa-pore9-12 November 2017

Refugees and Migrants: internationalmeeting of operations managers inMunich, Germany5-6 June 2017The meeting includes delegates of theagencies working in France, Austria,Czech Republic, Italy and Germany, aswell as representatives of the Order ofMalta’s government.

Conference to raise awareness ofchild victims of armed conflicts,Rome, Italy1 June 2017 The Sovereign Order of Malta and theEmbassy of the Czech Republic organ-ise a conference in the Magistral Villa,Rome, for raising awareness on thedrama of children who are victims ofarmed conflicts.

Meeting to address the challenges ofmigration in Libya and to promote po-litical cooperation and national recon-ciliation, Rome24 March 2017Order of Malta hosts a meeting on thehumanitarian situation in Libya withAmbassadors and Representatives ofInternational Agencies

25th Hospitallers meeting, Paris,France15-17 March 2017A meeting of the Order’s leaders ofcharitable activities around the worldrepresented 32 Order organisationsand as many nationalities.

Conference for journalists and mem-bers of the press, Rome, Italy15 March 2017Debriefing on latest Order activitiesaround the world

Meeting of the Ambassadors of theOrder, Vienna, Austria13-16 March 2017A meeting to examine practices andstrategies of the diplomatic humanitar-ian network of the Order.

Communicators Forum, Rome, Italy25-26 November 2016

Meeting of the Orders of St John Alliance, Rome, Italy6-8 October 2016

6th Asia Pacific Conference, Seoul,South Korea22-25 September 2016

24th Hospitallers meeting, Valletta,Malta10-11 March, 2016Humanitarian programmes and strate-gies review.


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Government of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta

Prince and 80th Grand MasterHMEH Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto

HE Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von RumersteinGrand Commander

HE Albrecht Freiherr von BoeselagerGrand Chancellor

HE Dominique Prince de La Rochefoucauld-MontbelGrand Hospitaller

HE János Count Esterházy de GalánthaReceiver of the Common Treasure

SOVEREIGN COUNCIL MEMBERSHE Fra’ John E. CritienHE Fra’ John T. DunlapHE Fra’ Duncan GallieHE Fra’ Emmanuel RousseauHE Winfried Graf Henckel von DonnersmarckHE Geoffrey D. Gamble

GOVERNMENT COUNCILVice PresidentJuan Tomás O’Naghten y ChacónCouncillorsFra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de VillasBoasFra’ Jean-Louis MainguyFranz Graf von Harnoncourt-UnverzagtSimon GrenfellMauro Bertero Gutiérrez

BOARD OF AUDITORSPresidentDominicus Freiherr von und zu MentzingenCouncillorsBruno de Seguins Pazzis d’AubignanLancelot d’UrselNiels LorijnAlternate CouncillorsJustin Simpson

BOARD OF COMMUNICATIONSPresidentUlrich von Glaunach zum KazenstainCouncillorsAlain de Quengo de TonquedecDouglas Graf von Saurma-JeltschLucía González-Barandiarán y de MullerChristopher Poch

SECRETARY GENERAL FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS Amb. Stefano Ronca

JURIDICAL COUNCIL PresidentProf. Avv. Arturo MarescaVice-PresidentProf. Damiano Nocilla Secretary GeneralProf. Avv. Paolo Papanti Pelletier de BerminyMembersProf. Avv. Giancarlo PeroneProf. Avv. Leonardo Perrone

MAGISTRAL COURT OF APPEALPresidentProf. Avv. Arturo MarescaJudgesProf. Avv. Leonardo Perrone Avv. Massimo Massella Ducci Teri Prof. Francesco d’Ayala Valva

MAGISTRAL COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE PresidentProf. Avv. Paolo Papanti Pelletier de BerminyJudgesProf. Avv. Pietro Sirena Prof. Avv. Venerando MaranoProf. Avv. Paolo Morozzo Della RoccaProf. Avv. Arnaldo Morace PinelliChancellor of the Magistral CourtsCol. Alessandro Bianchi

COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NAMES AND EMBLEMS PresidentFra’ John T. Dunlap

SOVEREIGN COUNCILThe Sovereign Council assists

the Grand Master in the

government of the Order.

It is composed of the Grand

Master, four State Ministers

and six Council members.

The Sovereign Council is called

by the Grand Master and meets

at the seat of the Order of Malta

at least six times a year and

whenever special circum-

stances require it.


Diplomatic relations of the Sovereign Order of Malta worldwide

THE ORDER OF MALTA HAS PERMANENT OBSERVER MISSIONS TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS SPECIALISED AGENCIES:

United Nations - New YorkUnited Nations - GenevaUnited Nations - ViennaESCAP - United Nations Economic and SocialCommission for Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok)FAO - Food and Agricultural Organization of theUnited Nations (Rome)IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna)

IFAD - International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (Rome)UNEP - United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (Nairobi)UNESCO - United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (Paris)UNHCHR - United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)

UNHCR - United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees (Geneva)UNIDO - United Nations IndustrialDevelopment Organization (Vienna)UNODC - UN Office for Drugs and Crime (Vienna)WFP - World Food Programme of theUnited Nations (Rome)WHO - World Health Organization (Geneva)

THE ORDER OF MALTA HAS DELEGATIONS OR REPRESENTATIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS:

AU - African Union (Addis Ababa)COE - Council of Europe (Strasbourg)CPLP - Community of Portuguese LanguageCountries (Lisbon)CTBTO - Preparatory Commission for thecomprehensive nuclear-test-ban TreatyOrganization (Vienna)ICCROM - International Centre for the study of thepreservation and restoration of cultural property(Rome)ICMM - International Committee of Military

Medicine (Brussels)ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross(Geneva)IDB - Inter-American Development Bank(Washington D.C.)IIHL - International Institute of Humanitarian Law(Sanremo, Geneva)IFRC - International Federation of Red Crossand Red Crescent Societies (Geneva)IOF - International Organization of La Francophonie(Paris)

IOM - International Organization forMigration (Geneva)PAM - Parliamentary Assembly of theMediterranean (Malta)SICA - Central American Integration System (SanSalvador)UNIDROIT - International Institute for theUnification of Private Law (Rome)UNILAT - Latin Union (Santo Domingo, Paris)

• Belgium

• Canada

• France

• Luxembourg

• Switzerland

• European Union

Multilateral relations

EUROPEAlbania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,Czech Republic, Germany, Holy See,Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein,Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Monaco,Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Russia (Federation of)*,San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine.

THE AMERICASAntigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas,Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, CostaRica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti,Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay,Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and theGrenadines, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

ASIA PACIFICAfghanistan, Armenia, Cambodia, Georgia,Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Lebanon,Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru,Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste,Turkmenistan.

AFRICAAngola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,Cape Verde, Congo (Democratic Republic of),Congo [Republic of], Egypt, EquatorialGuinea, Eritrea Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea,Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya,Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania,Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique,Namibia, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe,Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo.

THE SOVEREIGN ORDER OF MALTA HAS DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH 108 COUNTRIES:

THE ORDER OF MALTA HAS OFFICIAL RELATIONS WITH: THE ORDER OF MALTA HAS RELATIONS AT AMBASSADOR LEVEL WITH:

THE ORDER OF MALTA HAS RELATIONS AT AMBASSADOR LEVEL WITH:

* Relations with the Russian Federation are maintained through a diplomatic special mission.

• Palestine

69

SECTION

What the commitment means

is unceasing care for those who are

most vulnerable.

4

The inspirationand the

commitment


An interview with

Mons. Jean LaffittePrelate of the Order of Malta

‘Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’(Mt 25:40)

The essential core that enlivens and inspires our engagement within the SovereignMilitary Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta is ourservice to men and women in need, and especially to the sick and the poor. In otherwords, our work as Christian volunteers.

What is Christian volunteer work? First, we need to examine what, in human nature, is inherent to every voluntary ac-tion, and then to deepen the specific nature of Christian volunteer work.

The relational nature of manWithin each person, there is a desire to communicate, to develop different forms ofrelations with others in exchanges at various levels. An interpersonal relationshipmust exclude exploitation of one’s fellow man and seek to ban all forms of manipu-lation. A harmonious relationship between two human beings is characterised by aone-to-one approach which is always greater than the relationship itself, due to aquality inherent within every human being: his irreducible dignity. In our works, theOrder’s tradition encourages us always to accompany our action with the utmost re-spect for those we serve, and with gestures of attentiveness that personalise our re-lationship with them. It is the moment that allows us to recognise our neighbour inthe other person. By contrast, how can we fail to recall the answer of Cain to God Whowas questioning him: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’To acknowledge one’s neighbour in the other person means to accept a certain re-sponsibility towards him or her, whether or not one is able to do something concrete forthe other person. In Lourdes, for example, or anywhere else, indeed, we are wellaware of the importance of small gestures that personalise the care given to peoplewho are suffering. We also know very well the joy of some of our guests, the Malades,when, from one year to the next, they realise that we remember them, and they feelwelcomed as friends.

Who is our neighbour? It is he or she to whom we feel close, and whom we acknowledge as being close tous. This closeness is about acknowledging familiarity, a community of nature. All vol-unteer work rests upon the conviction of the value and dignity of mankind, and of thewillingness to help those who are in need of help – it is altruism, it is self sacrificeand concern for the wellbeing of others.

The Christian meaning of volunteer workThe key: self sacrifice and concern for the wellbeing of others

72

SECTION 4 - THE INSPIRATION AND THE COMMITMENT

73

The stirring spirit of young Ordervolunteers – International SummerCamp, Salzburg, 2017

The meaning of Christian volunteer work The Gospel shows how love for His neighbour inspired and provoked each and everyone of Jesus’ actions during the course of His public ministry: the attention paid to-wards the sick, the encounter with those who were on the fringes of society, andthose who were possessed by evil spirits. In the person of Christ, compassion (vis-à-vis material poverty) and mercy (vis-à-vis of spiritual poverty – that is, sin) converge.Christian volunteers have the power to care for others, and to care lovingly as Jesusdid. They are aware that the sick and the poor also have spiritual expectations beyondthose material needs they try to relieve – expectations that are not always expressedopenly. At the heart of Christian volunteer work, service is also an encounter with the suffer-ing Christ. The word of Jesus praising the offering of a simple glass of water made inHis name is truly inspiring: even the smallest act that provides solace to the poordoes not remain hidden before God. For the Christian volunteer, serving the poor and the sick is a service to Jesus Him-self. The tradition in our Order of referring to them as our lords the sick reveals theimmense respect that all generations of Knights and Dames have felt for their broth-ers in need.The acts of solidarity and service accomplished by Christians within actions of volun-teer work have another name: charity. By serving his brothers the poor, the sick andthe suffering with love, the volunteer becomes a true disciple of Christ.

SECTION

Charity is the driving force behind every

Order initiative in the medical field.

5

A legacythat will

never die


Fra’ John E. CritienMember of the Sovereign Council

and curator of the art collections

of the Order of Malta

As curator of the art collections of the Sovereign Order of Malta, it has been an interest-ing exercise to review the medical history of Malta under the knights. The theme hasbeen prompted by the question: what would medical care in Malta have been like hadthe Order not settled here?

The contribution of the Order to medicine in MaltaThe Order’s contribution to Malta in the history of medicine dates from its arrival in1530. The St. Francis Hospital, later known as Santo Spirito, had already been in ex-istence in Malta by 1347, while three other similar institutions were functioning in thenext century. The arrival of the Order brought about winds of change and in 1533, atthe first Chapter General held on the island, in the Chapter Hall at Fort St. Angelo, itwas established that doctors were to visit patients in their homes free of charge: fail-ure to do so would result in the doctors being fined four times as much as the amountrequested or received. As soon as the knights established themselves in Birgu they started to build a hospi-tal from which they could serve their mission as Hospitallers. The hospital, known asthe Sacra Infermeria, was completed in 1533 but already in 1538, due to the high de-mand for its services, another level was added to the structure. Patients were provid-ed with the best care possible and, as well as treating the sick, the hospital also tookin unwanted babies or foundlings and catered for their upbringing and well being. Incontrast to the indifference towards infant life that prevailed in other European coun-tries until the 18th century, provision for the future welfare and education of thesechildren was made by the Order’s Chapter General of 1555. The hospital in Birgu wasclosed down in 1575 since the knights moved to the new city of Valletta, and a SacraInfermeria was constructed there in 1574 during the Grand Mastership of de LaCassiere. The building achieved fame as one of the foremost hospitals of the periodin Europe and could accommodate around 900 patients in an emergency. Its largestward, an impressive 155 metres (508 feet) in length, was one of the largest in Europeat the time. Food was served by the knights themselves on silver plates but of suchplain workmanship as sufficiently proves that the magnificence was adopted for amotive of cleanliness and to prevent the spread of bacteria, and not as an object ofluxury. This state of affairs at the Sacra Infermeria lasted throughout the 16th, 17thand 18th centuries.

First school of anatomy and surgeryAttempts at introducing formal medical education in the Maltese islands can be dat-ed to the establishment, at the Grand Master’s expense, of the first School of Anato-my and Surgery in Malta by Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner in 1676. Instruction in the-

Medical advances in Malta: the contribution of the Order A heritage of significance

76

SECTION 5 - A LEGACY THAT WILL NEVER DIE

77

The Sacra Infermeria, Malta

The author acknowledges with gratitudethe writings of Dr. Paul Cassar, Prof. Mario Buhagiar, and H.E. Ambassador George Buttigieg.

oretical anatomy and surgery was given to the barber-surgeons of the Sacra Inferme-ria and to all other youths who aspired to join the surgical profession, provided thatthey could read and write. Other disciplines such as the surgical aspects of physiolo-gy, pathology, hygiene and therapeutics were added later to the curriculum and by1682 the course in surgery lasted ten years. The foundation of the Collegio Medico in1771 by Grand Master Pinto in his newly established Pubblica Università di Studi Gen-erali further strengthened medical training in Malta. The Maltese Joseph Barth can-not be omitted from the list of illustrious sons of the School of Anatomy and Surgeryat the Sacra Infermeria in Valletta. He was to take the Chair of Ophthalmology at theUniversity of Vienna in 1774. The people of Malta have reason to be proud that theiruniversity, founded by the knights, is the oldest in the Commonwealth outside theUnited Kingdom.

Modern social welfareFrom the socio-medical point of view the Order introduced into Malta what may beconsidered an introduction to our modern Social Welfare. Alms givers, pitanziere,were women employees who visited indigent or bed-ridden women to whom they dis-tributed bread, medicines and financial relief. Elderly men in need, on the other hand,were provided with financial assistance and the so-called perpetual beds, letti perpe-tui, at the Sacra Infermeria. All this took place while the Holy Infirmary was also dis-pensing bread and soup to the poor and infirm of the city, and a monthly allowance ofmoney to the blind, the lame and the leprous. Street beggars were also cared for bya special committee called the Congregazione dei poveri mendicanti providing themwith financial relief and accommodation.This brief survey of the Order’s legacy on the island of Malta in the fields of medicaland social services reveals an important fact - that charity is the driving force behindevery initiative. It is the mission of the Order of Malta: Obsequium pauperum then andnow and, God willing, in the future.

SECTION

The Order of Malta, together with

its members, volunteers and professional

staff, cares for those in need in 120

countries, from continent to continent,

from nation to nation.

Care thatreaches

aroundthe world

6


Africa has long suffered under

threats of disease, natural disasters,

war. The Order of Malta has

a widespread and long-standing

presence on the continent, working

in medical, health and social care

and supporting those displaced

by violence in their countries.

The Sovereign Order of Malta

has bilateral diplomatic relations

with 32 African States.

africa

Burkina Faso

Ordre de Malte France has a range ofsupport activities in Burkina Faso. Itshealth centre, St.John of Malta, Oua-gadougou, sees 28,000 consultationsper year, ranging from generalmedicine, to dental care, ophthalmolo-gy and optics. A partnership created in2015 together with the Occitane Foun-dation and the Ministry of Health pro-vides screening for vision problems inthe population. In 2016, the Order con-

solidated five ambulance posts – inOuagadougou, Bobo Dioulasso, Djibo,Banfora et Fada N’Gourma, the mostimportant being Bobo Dioulasso with50 ambulance drivers and first aiders.In 2017, the centre at Djibo was trans-ferred to Tengokoro, in the south east. Across the country, the Order supports13 health centres and provides freemedicines and medical equipment.

Cameroon

The activities of Ordre de Malte Francein Cameroon cover a hospital and dis-pensary, and support for 10 health cen-tres. The St John of Malta hospital is inNjombé and specialises in maternaland child protection and care for suf-ferers of neglected tropical diseases.The hospital, established in 1994 andone of the best equipped in the region,added a training centre for first aidersat the end of 2016. At Mokolo, in the farnorth of the country the Order has beenrunning a leprosarium; it now addsgeneral care and care of patients withmotor disabilities. Ordre de Malte France also supportsthe GFAOP (Franco-African Group ofPaediatric Oncology) which, togetherwith the Chantal BIYA Foundation, pro-vides treatment for African childrenwith cancer.

Benin, Republic of

Ordre de Malte France has run the 107-bed general Hospital of St John of Mal-ta in Djougou, Benin, for 40 years. With191 staff, it is the only hospital with anoperating block and ante rooms. In2017, the hospital enlarged its premis-es on an adjacent site. The Order also supports 10 health cen-tres, all situated in poor areas, and forthe most part focussing on mother andchild health care.

▲ The Order has teams of ambulance drivers and first-aiders in Burkina Faso, serving out-lying areas with medical checkups and free medicines

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SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - AFRICA

Central African Republic

Ordre de Malte France has been presentin the Central African Republic for over30 years, supporting health facilities inthe country. It currently financially sup-ports the running of the Bangui Centreof functional rehabilitation (CRHAM)and the missions of a specialist volun-teer paediatric surgeon. Ordre de MalteFrance also supports 12 health centres,providing medical supplies.

Chad

In N’Djamena, Chad, Ordre de MalteFrance manages two health centres –at Am’Toukoui, constructed in 1993 andWallia, which the Order has been man-aging since 2005. Am’Toukoui has awell-equipped medical analysis labo-ratory and an ophthalmic technicianwith an efficient technical platform.Wallia, which also has a laboratory, of-fers care in paediatrics, pregnancymonitoring and maternal and childhealth care. Both clinics are developingoutreach programmes in their catch-ment areas.

Comoros, Union of

Ordre de Malte France has been provid-ing aid in the Union of Comoros since1978. Currently, four health centres aresupported, with operating expenses andthe supply of medicines and medicalequipment: Moroni and M’Beni (inGrande Comores), Fomboni (in Mohéli)and Mutsumadu (in Anjouan). The healthcentre in Moroni provides 15,000 consul-tations a year, plus 3,000 in 10 rural cen-tres. A burn centre was added two yearsago. In Moheli, almost all medicines areprovided by Ordre de Malte France. TheOrder is also assessing a project tomanage the M'rémani dispensary in thesouth of the island of Anjouan, whichserves a population of 70,000.

Democratic Republic of Congo

In Democratic Republic of Congo, theOrder’s French and Belgian Associa-tions, Malta Belgium International Aid,and the Order’s Embassy all providesupport to those in need in the country.Ordre de Malte France supports tworeception centres in Bukavu, South

Kivu, providing care for children in dif-ficult circumstances, offering trainingand support for their reintegration intheir families. Malteser International, the Order’s in-ternational relief service, has been ac-tive in eastern provinces since 1996,with projects for water, sanitation,health and food security.

Republic of Congo

Since 2013, Ordre de Malte France hasbeen running the St.Kisito healthcarecentre, which focuses on prenatal andpostnatal consultations and care. TheOrder also sends free medicines tothree other health centres: Poto Potoin Brazzaville, Shalom Sembé in Oues-so and the Pastorale of Enyelle.Since late 2016, in partnership forthree years with the French Develop-ment Agency (AFD) and the support ofthe Association of Spiritains of Congo(PHAC), a mobile clinic has beenlaunched in the Likouala department,in the north. It provides care to indige-nous peoples (pygmies), strengthenstheir capacity to develop income-gen-erating activities, and helps them toimplement their rights.

Egypt

The Order’s Ambassador to Egypt inau-gurated the Blessed Gérard diabetesclinic in Shoubra, Cairo, in 2017. Everymonth the facility sees 2,000 patients,who come from poor or disadvantagedbackgrounds. In October 2016 a dispensary dedicatedto Blessed Gérard was inaugurated inNazlet Ghattas (Governatorate ofMinya), with the addition of sponsor do-nations.This last project benefitted from thehumanitarian cooperation between theOrder and the Republic of China (Tai-wan), and the acquisition of a colour ul-trasound. This modern diagnostic toolis also equipped with an ecocardio-gram probe. The Order also continues

▲ A mobile clinic in northern Congo brings care to local communities and indigenous peoples

81


82

to give support to the Abu Zaabal Lep-rosarium, north of Cairo.

Ethiopia

A project spearheaded by the Order’sEmbassy opens in 2018, creating a col-laboration between the Order and theMother and Child Clinic, Catholic Uni-versity of Ethiopia, in Addis Abeba.

Gabon

Ordre de Malte France has been inGabon for over 10 years. The organisa-tion supports a clinic, the White Cross,at Port Gentil and also a health centrein Makokou, in the north west, whichsince 2013 has been providingmedicines to health outposts in pygmyvillages, including Mekambo. Aid is also given to the leper village ofEbeigne, ensuring that families receivefood and are integrated into the life ofthe town and the parish.

Guinea-Bissau

For over 12 years, the Order has had afruitful cooperation with some localNGOs in health assistance, humanitar-ian aid, education, and has maintainedrelations with the ecclesiastical au-thorities of Guinea-Bissau, particularlyin supporting the Franciscan MissionCumura and the ‘Military Brotherhoodof Our Lady of Conception’.

Guinea-Conakry

Since 1983, Ordre de Malte France hasbeen active in the country, supporting14 clinics which offer primary health-care services – free of charge to thevery poor - and managing a health cen-tre, Dr.Maladho Bah, in Pita. The health centre is a logistical basefor the implementation of national pro-grammes for the fight against leprosy,tuberculosis and the tropical disease,Buruli ulcer, in central Guinea. In 2015,

with additional support from MalteserInternational, the Order of Malta’s in-ternational relief service, the healthcentre was the pivotal location for or-ganising an awareness campaign forthe Ebola virus and its prevention. A project set up in the north centraltowns of Pita and Sangaréah by Ordrede Malte France in 2017 is focussed onstrengthening the local health system.

Ivory Coast

Inaugurated in 2015, the St.John Bap-tist 75-bed hospital in Bodo graduallyopened its services – generalmedicine, radiology and emergency,during 2016. By the end of the year,9,681 consultations had been held andstaff numbers increased from 32 to 75as demand grew. A Mother and ChildCentre was launched in 2017. Ordre de Malte France supports 18clinics around the country, with dona-tions of medicines and medical equip-

▲ The Order focuses on care for leprosy sufferers, showing them how to look after themselves


83

ment and financial grants. The Asso-ciation of Friends of the Order of Maltain Ivory Coast also supports manyclinics.

Kenya

The Order, through its international re-lief organisation, Malteser Internation-al, has been running health pro-grammes in Nairobi since 2001, fo-cussing on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDSamong the disadvantaged in the city’sslums. Tuberculosis is curable, withcarefully monitored treatment.HIV/AIDs cannot be cured, but with an-tiretroviral drugs it can be suppressed.About 10 percent of adults in these ex-tremely poor areas are HIV positive.The organisation has established eightlaboratories, is providing counsellingand testing, and treatment for both dis-eases, training in healthcare for slumresidents, creation of support groupsfor HIV-positive mothers, and instigat-ing awareness campaigns to fight thestigma of the disease. Malteser International has also set updrought relief programmes in the north,as both humans and animals are affect-ed, with severe food shortage and re-sultant malnutrition. In Illeret, Marsabit

district, the ongoing focus is supplyingsafe drinking water, securing food sup-ply, reducing livestock and conservinggrazing land, improving hygiene andsanitary conditions, and educating thelocal population in preparedness for thenext drought.With its partner organisations, the Or-der is using the latest tablet computersand eBooks to help the semi nomadic -tribes in the north, the Gabra, Boranaand Loiyangalani, to improve their lit-eracy and thus their livelihood.Responding to the plight of the com-munities in the little known drought-afflicted area of Changogo, KilifiCounty, in early 2017, the Order’s Em-bassy provided food and water to 1,600people.

Liberia

Together with eight partners, MalteserInternational is working to help preventthe spread of the Ebola virus in the re-gion. Measures include the setting upof hand washing stations and decon-tamination centres. Awareness cam-paigns are underway, with video clips,radio, hotlines, posters, brochures,presentations, all describing the epi-demic, its symptoms, consequences,

and how to prevent it. Distribution of hygiene products,mosquito nets, mattresses, sheets anddisinfectants are helping in preventingthe disease. To ensure a long-termfood supply, seeds have been given tothe farmers.

Madagascar

In Madagascar, Ordre de Malte Francesupports programmes in two of thecountry’s six provinces, with two healthinitiatives – the Sainte Fleur maternitypavilion in the Joseph Ravoahangy An-drianavalona hospital in Antananarivoand the Leprosarium of Marana in Fia-narantsoa province. The Sainte Fleurhas 58 beds, 3 operating theatres and 4delivery rooms with 2 incubators, and astaff of 80. Inaugurated in 1999, it wasentirely renovated in 2012 and hasadded two key projects: providing pre-natal consultations in nine clinics indisadvantaged areas of the capital and,since 2016, detection and treatment ofobstetric fistula. Ordre de Malte France also supports theManara Leprosy Centre, which cares for90-100 patients and prepares them tore-enter their society after cure.

Mali

The Order’s work in Mali is concernedwith the fight against maternal and in-fant mortality, and in 2017, in partner-ship with the Daughters of the Immac-ulate Heart of Mary, a maternity healthcentre was constructed in the districtof Hamdalaye, Bamako. At the end of2015, it re-opened an ambulance andfirst aid training centre in Bamako,staffed by three paramedics and 16rescuers. Results were almost imme-diate: in 2016, a group of traineesgained their certificate, with somespecialised in prevention and civic res-cue training, and others trained inmonitoring.The Order supports 12 clinics aroundthe country – at Kayes, Koulikoro,▲ A home visit to a patient suffering from tuberculosis, Oloitokitok, Kenya


Segou, Sikasso and Mopti and Bamakodistrict, as well as a specialised centrefor children with mental disabilities.

Mauritania

The presence of the Order in Maurita-nia is currently restricted to recon-structive surgery missions for patientswith problems resulting from theirleprosy. The work is carried out inpartnership with the Mauritanian Min-istry of Health, the AMPHL (Mauritani-an Association of Promotion of Peoplewith Leprosy Disabilities), and theRaoul Follereau Foundation. A trainingproject for paramedics is under con-sideration.

Mauritius

Mauritius lies in the southwest of theIndian Ocean, 2,300 km from the east

coast of Africa and 870 km from Mada-gascar. Assessing the need for emer-gency response in the population ofover 1.2 million, from 2015 the Orderestablished first aid training and medi-cal transport activities, setting up firstaid stations on the island. The numberis still growing.

Morocco

The humanitarian assistance of Ordrede Malte France began in Morocco in1967, with financial support for twoleprosy pavilions in Ain Chock hospital.Since then, the organisation has con-tinued to send medicines to combat di-abetes. Today, the focus is on the fightagainst avoidable blindness in Moroc-co, and the Order, through Ordre deMalte France, in a country with a popu-lation of 35 million, has set up a hu-manitarian project to treat ophthalmic

diseases in collaboration with the Min-istry of Health. Now, hundreds of needypatients are operated on each year bythe joint efforts of Ordre de MalteFrance and the medical teams of theKingdom of Morocco.

Mozambique

The care focus of the Order’s Embassyin Mozambique is on leprosy and heartdisease. The Embassy, jointly with Or-dre de Malte France, supported theNational Plan Against Leprosy ofMozambique’s Ministry of Health. Theproject ran for four years, 2013-2017. In Nampula province the Order is pro-viding specialist drugs, support forpurchasing special sandals for leprosysufferers, and sponsorship of 5,000vests for volunteers working in the fieldfor the National Plan Against Leprosy.It is also initiating a medical mission toassess the local health situation forsufferers in Nampula and in Niassa. The Embassy has launched a campaignfor Self Care groups (GACs) – formerlepers, those undergoing treatmentand, increasingly, sufferers from otherneglected diseases. They look afterthemselves, with daily care for foot ul-cers and other health problems and re-ceive micro credit to raise goats, culti-vate manioc and sell soap and sugargiven by the State. Leprosy is no longerstigmatised in Mozambique, thanks togroups like these.

Namibia

Through the Order’s Embassy inNamibia, support is provided for akindergarten for 120 children, most ofwhom are orphans, in Rundu, Kavango.A soup kitchen offers 600 meals a dayto the kindergarteners, to 200 otheryoung students, aged 6-12 and to localinfirm elderly. A tailoring enterprisegives work to 25 villagers. The Orderalso supports a boarding school (140pupils, aged 7-12) at Mururani, 90kmfrom Rundu.

84

▲ In Mozambique, the Order works with leprosy victims, providing specialist care and training


In the capital, Windhoek, there are twonewly constructed school rooms for 60children. Future plans include creationof an orchard, and a project to provide aday care centre for the area, where theAIDS virus remains of major concern.

Niger

The Order has been operating in Nigersince 1974, with a focus on the distri-bution of medicines. A project now un-der consideration is support forhealthcare training in a school forparamedics in Niamey.

nigeria

Despite the volatile security situation inthe region, Malteser International’steam have launched a transnationalprogramme in Nigeria and Cameroon.In Nigeria, a comprehensive project for

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)is implemented in cooperation with alocal partner, CIDAR (Centre for Inte-grated Development and Research).The aim is to improve the general hy-giene and sanitary situation of inter-nally displaced persons in Maiduguri,including the provision of hygiene sets,access to clean drinking water andconstruction of latrines.

Sao Tome e Principe

The Embassy in Sao Tome e Principecontinues its collaboration with Por-tuguese NGO ‘AMI – International Med-ical Assistance’ in the S. Joao dos An-golares General Hospital.

Senegal

Ordre de Malte France runs the CentreHospitalier de l’Ordre de Malte (CHOM),

Dakar, Senegal, and supports 13 clinicsacross the country. The hospital cele-brated its 50th anniversary in December2017. With 45 beds, and a two-room op-erating theatre built on European guide-lines, a staff of 37, including 2 surgeonsand 18 nurses, up to 15 operations arecarried out each week. The Centre spe-cialises in the treatment of leprosy, of-fering orthopaedic surgery, prostheticsfor hip and knee, and non-traumatichand and spine surgery. It is one of WestAfrica’s centres of excellence. Ordre de Malte France has also signeda cooperation agreement with theDAHW (Deutsche Lepra- und Tuberku-losehilfe e.V.) for detection of tubercu-losis and leprosy including cases in re-mote villages. A second partnershiphas been signed with Hilfe für Senegalwho donated medical equipment(wheelchairs, crutches, etc.) to the dis-pensary in Gorée.

▲ School pupils line up for hot, nourishing meals in South Sudan, provided by the Order’s Malteser International

85


In Dakar the Association supports acentre (run by the Sisters of Charity) forthe socio-professional and family rein-tegration of underprivileged girls. It al-so donates blankets, mattresses andsheets to the Centre de Santé Do-minique in Pikine and has worked witha Catholic school (Ste Marie de Hann)which will help create a group of youngOrder of Malta volunteers.Amongst the Association’s activities: agroup of volunteers who support theMaison d’Arrêt des Femmes de LibertéVI with materials and equipment, and‘L’Ecole à l’Hôpital’ which organisescourses for children in hospital and do-nates toys and clothes.The Embassy supports the distributionof funds and medicines, and cooper-ates with SAMU, an organisation whichcollects and cares for children from thestreets.

Seychelles

In 2015 the Embassy of the Order to theSeychelles organised a very large do-nation of medical equipment from therecently dismantled Ospedale S. Orsolain Brescia. The equipment included de-fibrillators, special microscope, labequipment, beds, wheelchairs andstretchers. The 258 items are now inuse at Anse Royal, Praslin and LaDigue hospitals, the Centre for the El-derly at North East Point, the lab at theSeychelles Hospital, and as additionalequipment on ambulances.

South Africa

The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard, theOrder’s relief organisation in SouthAfrica founded 1992, proudly celebratedits 25th anniversary of activity for

HIV/AIDS sufferers in November 2017.Based in Mandeni, the organisationprovides a comprehensive system ofhealth care for HIV patients, child careprojects, assistance to the poor, first aidand emergency relief. In its 25 years, ithas treated thousands of AIDS patients. The specialist Treatment Programme(HAART-Highly Active Anti-RetroviralTherapy) covers 712 patients on ongo-ing life-long treatment. The pro-gramme includes voluntary coun-selling and HIV testing and HAARTreadiness courses before startingtreatment, as well as adherence moni-toring (with 3,827 home visits in 2017),and encouraging support groups, moti-vation and income generation.Hospice and palliative care: there isresidential palliative care for terminal-ly ill patients in the inpatient unit. It canaccommodate up to 40 patients. In

▲ At the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard, South Africa, teachers work with young orphans

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2017 there were 5,825 outpatient con-sultations, 434 new outpatients en-rolled, 191 new inpatients admitted. Home care: mobile home-nursingteams regularly assess the situationand provide medical care. In 2017, therewere 1,178 home visits, 299 patientswere cared for at home. 719 were trans-ported by the BBG ambulances and 162new home care patients were enrolled.Child Care: Pre-Primary School andCrèche: BBG provides ‘edu-care’ andan early childhood development ser-vice for underprivileged pre-schoolers.In addition, the complex runs: A children’s home: BBG look after,counsel and give a home to 84 sick andhealthy ‘Orphans and Vulnerable Chil-dren’. A malnutrition Clinic: provides ahealth care service to the poor; mal-nourished children are treated and fedand their parents are taught baby careand nutrition. A Bursary Fund: 242 bur-saries awarded in 2017.

South Sudan

The Order’s Malteser International hasbeen in South Sudan since 1995. From2017, it provides: • hot meals for 2,000 school children at

the Al Salam School in Lologo and3,000 meals a day in IDP camps inWau, and supports a food securityproject in Maridi.

• leprosy therapy: the Order has beensupporting 2,000 people in the Rum-bek area since 2010. There is also aproject to control sleeping sickness.

The Rumbek training centre combinesa lab technician school with a nursingschool. The pupils receive food andlodging: 77 graduated between 2013and 2016.In a sustainable agriculture project es-tablished in 2015, the organisation isworking with its local partner to im-prove nutritional agriculture in Maridi,Mambe and Ngamunde. Tools, plantsand seeds plus cultivation instructionsare distributed to 1,000 householdswhere husbands died in the civil war.

In a programme to improve food quali-ty and security, the organisation ishelping 850 particularly needy fami-lies, and 5,000 people in 5 villages nearthe city of Wau, in the north-west, tomake long-term improvements to thequality and security of their food; reha-bilitation of irrigation systems and ac-cess roads with the cooperation of lo-cal families who receive farming landfrom the diocese of Wau; supply of wa-ter and hygiene items to around 18,000people in IDP camps in the same areaand providing help for street childrenand creating child-friendly spaces.

Togo

In Togo, with a population of over sevenmillion and where 60% of the popula-tion is under 20, Ordre de Malte Franceaids clinics and dispensaries and con-tinues to fight neglected tropical dis-eases with detection and treatmentprogrammes. Since 1978 it has run aprivate 68-bed hospital in the remoterural area of Elavagnon, with a staff of83 providing general medicine, surgery,

paediatrics, obstetrics, a laboratory andpharmacy (around 10,650 consultationsand 893 deliveries per year). The hospi-tal’s mother and child health and nutri-tion unit, Centre Marigot, currentlycares for more than 500 children. Ordre de Malte France also supports:5 dispensaries: in Dapaong (2), Bafilo,Niamtougou and Aneho; 3 health cen-tres in Mango, Sokode, Kpamile; anursery in Lomé and a paediatric cen-tre in Kante.

Uganda

The Order’s Malteser International hasbeen working in Uganda since 1996.Currently, there is an internationalstaff of 2 and a local staff of 15 for a to-tal of 170,000 beneficiaries.They support a therapeutic nutritioncentre for young undernourished chil-dren in the St.Joseph Hospital inMaracha, north western Uganda, in-cluding home visits, health educationand training in crop growing. Outreachteams provide outpatient care in thesurrounding villages.

▲ Work continues in Africa to train local farmers in agricultural nutrition and seed cultivation

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The Order of Malta has an active

presence in 28 countries in the region,

with facilities providing care and

treatment in hospitals and homes

for the elderly, programmes for street

children, HIV-positive mothers and

americasinfants, food aid centres for

the homeless and for people with

disabilities. In many countries

the Order also runs dental clinics

and paediatric centres.

2013 saw the opening by Malteser

International, the Order’s worldwide

relief agency, of its American head-

quarters in Miami. With a relocation

to New York City, the regional agency

goes from strength to strength in its

work throughout the Americas.

Argentina

In Argentina, the Order’s Associationsupports many activities:the ongoing project at San Justo Paedi-atric Hospital in La Matanza, BuenosAires, provides treatment for 350 ba-bies per year, and makes 1,500 annualoutpatient visits.The AMAPEL (Ayuda Maltesa ParaEliminar la Lepra) Project, started in1995, aids victims of leprosy in ruralhospitals where the disease is endemic

(Santa Fe, Rosario, Chaco, Formosa,Santiago del Estero, Misiones, Corri-entes, Entre Ríos, Córdoba and Tu-cumán). Today, it has organised coop-erative measures with the BaldomeroSommer Hospital, offering specialistcourses to medical staff, and providingequipment to hospitals in Saltaprovince.The Association runs a programme forHIV positive mothers. Started in 2001,the AMAPES Programme (AIDS pre-vention between mothers and babies) –is active in the Alvarez, Argerich andSardà hospitals in Buenos Aires, thePresidente Peròn Hospital in Avellane-da and Iriarte Hospital in Quilmes(Buenos Aires Province).The Hostel de Malta Programme,Buenos Aires, provides palliative careto cancer patients from poor families,seeing 30 outpatients a day, and mak-ing home visits to an average of 100more. A soup kitchen ‘2 de Abril’ inBuenos Aires province feeds 200 dis-advantaged children a day, and alsohouses the SURSUM nursery school(ages 0-3) and a recreation centre forchildren aged 6-12. On a Buenos Airesstreet corner every Thursday eveningsince 2013 members and volunteersprepare and distribute food.The Fundación ‘Mateo 25’, in Florencio

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

Following the terrible hurricane Irma,category 5, which hit the Caribbean is-lands in September 2017, the Order’sEmbassy to Antigua and Barbuda, withCaritas Poland and Poland’s Ministryof National Defence, organised theshipping of humanitarian aid, includinggalvanised metal sheeting for coveringroofs, electric power generators, pres-sure washing equipment, vitaminproducts and long life food supplies.

the

▲ Argentina - Activities and games participation help cheer disabled guests

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SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - THE AMERICAS

Varela, south of Buenos Aires, pro-vides free dental and eye care to morethan 100 underprivileged children dai-ly. For complex cases it has a coopera-tion agreement with the University ofLa Plata. The Association also manages a FirstAid Post for the Order’s annual pilgrim-age to the Basilica de Nuestra Señorade Luján.

Bahamas

A donation from the Order’s Embassyin the Bahamas supports the newCatholic orphanage on the outskirts ofPort-au-Prince, Haiti, and the SacréCoeur Hospital, Milot, also in Haiti.The Embassy continues to support thelocal Catholic Church in the Bahamaswith gifts of up to US$ 1 million peryear.

Bolivia

The Order’s activities in Bolivia centrearound three cities - El Alto, La Paz and

Santa Cruz. In El Alto, the Association cooperateswith Renal Centre ‘San Juan de Dios’and ‘Casa Esperanza’ for a hospice forthe terminally ill, and since 2015, alsooffers social and spiritual support toyoung people in need.In La Paz, the Association manages aday care centre for the elderly, ‘YolandaPando’. It also supports two centres,‘Centre for Rehabilitation and MentalHealth San Juan de Dios’ with dona-tions of medicines, and the elderly carecentre ‘Hermanitas de los AncianosDesamparados Hogar San Ramón’.In Santa Cruz de la Sierra the Ordersupports the ‘Centre for Research andPrevention of Diabetes’; and providesmedicines to the ‘Siervas del Sagrado’centre in Montero. Other support includes a ‘HealthScreening Programme for the Commu-nity’ carried out by the Institute of Gas-troenterology of La Paz, the JapaneseHospital of Santa Cruz and the BolivianSociety of Gastroenterology; and the‘Alfonso Gumucio Reyes’ hospital in

Montero which provides free of chargecare to low-income patients with highlycomplex diseases.The Embassy supports communityhealth programmes in La Paz, El Altoand Santa Cruz de la Sierra and, to-gether with the Association, supportsthe Diabetes Centre in Santa Cruz andthe San Juan mental health centre andthe Centro de Tercera Edad in La Paz.

Brazil

The three Associations in Brazil: SãoPaulo (1957), Rio (1957) and Brasilia(1984) all have their own projects, buttogether they support the fight againstleprosy in 18 medical centres equippedfor testing and minor surgery, and insome centres, with workshops for pros-thetic limbs. The leprosy control pro-gramme run by CIOMAL in the Picos,Piauì and Fiorano regions has helpedreduce the number of new cases signif-icantly. It currently cares for 300 pa-tients and their families.The Association of São Paulo & South-

▲ World Day Against Diabetes, Bolivia: the Order, in collaboration with the University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra

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ern Brazil: carries out activities in SãoPaulo through the Centro AsistencialCruz de Malta, with members and 200regular plus 200 occasional volun-teers. Their health care projects aidnearly 60,000 people a year with med-ical care.Education projects: support for trainingin nursery care, nutrition, psychology,social service and physical education,library, professional courses in carpen-try, crafts, computer, sewing, cooking.The Association also supports a nurs-ery for 220 children aged 0-6 and ayouth centre for 150 teenagers. In the State of Paranà, the Associationsupports a home for 65 elderly peopleand a crèche for 70 children aged 2 to7. It also recently created a school forprofessional training for 150 pupils. InMacapà (State of Amapà) the Order hasa boat, ‘St. John the Baptist’, whichsince 1989 has transported Fr. Raoul

Matte, a doctor, along the Amazon riverto provide medical care to the isolatedpopulations of the area. Fr. Raoul alsotests for leprosy and carries patients tothe San Camillo hospital in Macapà. In Curitiba, the Association runs acrèche – caring for 1,600 children in its20 years of activity; it has now addedcare for 40 elderly; a school for handi-capped children, a reintegration centrefor drug addicts and children from dys-functional families. By 2017, 9,000 chil-dren had benefitted. The Association of Rio de Janeiro runsthe health centre ‘San João Bautista’,now in its fourth year. It provides basicmedicine daily, offering paediatrics,geriatrics, vaccinations to about 150patients (80 are children) gratis. Thereare 5 consultation rooms for adults and10 for children, with each patient seenby a doctor and 3 students. The centrebenefits 70,000 people in a 25 km.

catchment area.The Association of Brasilia runs 10crèches in Brasilia, caring for 1,150children daily, a social centre in BeloHorizonte (extensions are planned)which assists 200 youngsters aged 6 to14, and 100 aged 15 to 18. They also re-ceive 100 elderly people in the after-noons, teaching many to read andwrite. A 90 year-old recently signed hisname for the first time, to everyone’sdelight. The Association also supportsa leprosy centre, founded by an Ambas-sador of the Order.

Canada

The Canadian Association focuses onseven main care areas: people with in-tellectual and developmental disabili-ties; people with compromised mentalhealth; the visually impaired; thehomeless; pilgrims to the Notre-Dame-

▲ Wide ranging projects in Colombia to aid refugee and indigenous groups in disadvantaged regions include educational activities for youngsters

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du-Cap Sanctuary (First Aid); those inprison (chaplaincy); and health careprofessionals (education in bioethics).Activities around the country include:In Vancouver, since 2001, members ofthe Order have been supporting aweekly outreach eye glasses clinic forthe handicapped and those on low in-come (‘The Door is Open Clinic’). InMontreal, volunteers and memberswork in six homes for elderly, and theOrder’s Auxiliaries Corps assist pil-grims all year round at St. Joseph’s Or-atory and Notre Dame du Cap. A pro-ject in Quebec City helps severelyhandicapped children. Projects for aday clinic and a homeless shelter in Ot-tawa are currently being developed.The Association also supports a num-ber of international works: MalteserInternational Americas; the Holy Fami-ly Hospital, Bethlehem; the Order ofMalta’s International Summer Camp;and the Order’s hospital in Senegal (anursing exchange).

The Association helps to organise andcoordinate the International Associationof Bioethics (IACB), a resource onCatholic bioethics, which considersemerging health care trends, providesstatements on health topics and contro-versial issues. The focus of the 2018 Col-loquium: healthcare of the frail elderlyand those with cognitive impairments.

Chile

In Chile, the Association’s relief organ-isation, Fundación Auxilio Maltés, hasbeen providing health assistance since1996. It continues to support four major hos-pitals in Santiago with care for oxygen-dependent patients: at the San JosèHospital it supports 180 oxygen-de-pendent adults with transportation,medicines and oxygen tanks. In its ownward at the Dr. Exequiel GonzàlezCortés Hospital it supports 40 oxygen-dependent children.

The Fundación completely renewsequipment for the bronco-pulmonarydepartment at the Roberto del RìoHospital and continues to providetransportation for 40 oxygen-depen-dent children from their homes to thehospital. At the San Borja ArriaranHospital it has donated ventilator sup-port devices which allow patients to becared for at home. The Fundación has three regional of-fices – in Loncoche (800 km south ofSantiago, Liquiñe (on Indian territoryclose to the Argentine border) and LaSerena (in the north). Volunteers visitand care for sick and abandoned peo-ple, offer paramedical care, distributeclothes, spectacles, medicines, supplymedical equipment and assist terminalpatients. In Loncoche the Shelter Home‘Blessed Karl of Austria’ hosts 30 el-derly people and provides them withfour meals a day. The ‘Training Insti-tute Auxilio Maltès’, established in

▲ After recent bushfires in Chile, the Order provided essential animal feed

91


2013, offers first-aid courses, and spir-itual assistance to the elderly of theShelter Home in Loncoche. It also or-ganises religious services and cate-chism courses in Liquiñe.In the Yungay quarter of Santiago theAssociation has opened a welcomecentre for immigrants. Responding to the terrible bushfires inthe area around Peralillo in early 2017,the Association sent shipments of sup-plies and animal feed to local farmers, toensure their animals would not be lost.

Colombia

The Order in Colombia runs a range ofprojects – from social healthcare tofood support to social assistance andaid in time of natural disasters, in 22regions (departments) of the country,benefitting 110,000 people. Its most recent activities concern carefor the refugees arriving fromVenezuela. Together with the Order’sworldwide relief agency, Malteser In-ternational Americas, a first phase of

emergency interventions in the urbancentre of Riohacha and in five initialsurrounding Wayuu settlements is un-derway. Emergency efforts include dis-tributing hygiene kits, providing medi-cal aid for refugees and indigenouspeople in host communities, and estab-lishing sustainable systems and foodsecurity initiatives. Unofficial figuressuggest very high numbers of refugeesand asylum seekers in Colombia.Since 2015, Malteser InternationalAmericas has been providing health andnutrition relief and development to in-ternally displaced people, marginalisedAfro-Colombian and the indigenousWayuu, Colombia’s largest indigenouspopulation.The Colombian Association receivesmedicines from AmeriCares, Food forthe Poor, and Direct Relief, and dis-tributes them to 43 humanitarian non-profit organisations in 22 Departmentsof Colombia. The beneficiaries areyoung children, victims of armed con-flicts, the elderly, prisoners, disabled,ethnic minorities, HIV, AIDS and cancer

patients. In 2017, the Association dis-tributed goods with a value of overUS$15 million. The same year, it cele-brated 60 years of medical and socialassistance to those in need.In Barrio Lisboa, Bogota: in collabora-tion with the Scalabrini Priests, theAssociation runs and funds the ‘Nues-tra Señora de la Paz’ health and dentalcentre for children and elderly pa-tients, providing 8,000 medical ap-pointments in 2017; with Javesalud,the ‘Nuestra Señora de Filermo’health centre in South Palermo, pro-viding consultations in basic medicineand disease prevention, and trainingsessions by the Fundaciòn Santa Fé inBogotà (about 130 patients from verylow income families are treatedmonthly) with life skills training foraround 2,000 adults, and art coursesfor 155 youngsters added in 2017; the‘Mercado de Francisco’ provides foodpackages to the poor every twomonths. It has implemented a nutri-tion project, planting soy, under thesupervision of the Chaminade founda-tion and the management of the Soy-Doy foundation, distributing 7,000 foodpackages to poor families and 750 tothe elderly in 2017.Disaster preparedness includes awarehouse ‘Almaviva’ where 200 coldweather tents, 200 personal hygienekits and 30,000 water purificationtablets are stored. A programme fordisaster prevention and relief was de-veloped in 2016 for communities nearCiénaga, Magdalena. In Easter 2016, 80portable water systems were deliveredto Galerazamba (Atlántico), where forover two months there had been short-ages of drinking water.Following a recent natural crisis - theavalanche which hit the provincial cityof Mocoa in 2017, killing hundreds andleaving thousands homeless, theColumbian Association shipped fourcontainers of medicines and emergen-cy supplies and 17 tons of nutritionsupplements.

▲ Emergency kits are distributed following disastrous floods in Colombia

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Costa Rica

Since 2015 the Order’s Embassy in Cos-ta Rica has been providing defibrillatorsto schools, sport centres and clubs forthe elderly in poorer districts of SanJose, as well as an ambulance serviceand medical devices for patients withrespiratory problems. Thanks to the in-volvement of the Order’s Costa RicanAssociation, the Embassy canteen pro-ject, which distributes daily breakfastsat 6 am for 60 school children, has beenrecently expanded.In 2016, the Association launched aprison ministry programme for the re-habilitation of young prisoners at theCentro Penal Juvenil Zurquì, and sup-ported the construction of a centre for

the babies of young female prisoners.The Embassy has set up an agreementbetween the paediatric hospital of SanJosé and the Leonarda Vaccari Institutein Rome, which specialises in juveniledisabilities. It provided for twoparamedics from San José to attend aspecial one-month rehabilitationcourse in Rome, with the first takingplace in 2017.

Cuba

In Cuba, the Cuban Association sup-ports a wide range of projects in 69Parishes and institutions in Cuba, in-cluding support for four care centresof the Siervas de Marìa (in Havana,Matanzas, Camaguey and Holgiun)

with food, medicines and clothing, acentre for Down syndrome children, ahome for retired priests in Havana.The Association also helps support theSeminario Mayor de San Carlos y SanAmbrosio and the Seminario Menor deCamagüey. Over 700,000 meals weredistributed in the parishes to 13,000elderly and needy in 62 ‘comedorespopulares’ in 2017, and in the Cathe-dral of Santiago de Cuba, 4,500 mealsfor lonely and poor elderly were dis-tributed every month, as well as thosefor 130 beneficiaries at the SantisimaTrinidad. Financial aid after hurricane Sandyhelped rebuild many destroyed homes.Since 2016, an office established inVedado coordinates all projects.In Miami, the Cuban Association’s out-reach clinic, San Juan Bosco, started in1992, annually provides medical care toover 800 poor patients, documentedand non-documented. Over 30 Order ofMalta volunteers at ‘Casa de Malta’, inthe same parish, provide the local poorwith food and health education in En-glish and Spanish, aiding 110 peopleweekly over the last 10 years.The Cuban Association collaborateswith the Colombian Association in theDUNI project for the development ofmedical services for the native popula-tions of the Kogi and Arhuaca tribes ofthe Colombian Sierra Nevada. A medi-cal centre provides general medicinesand dentistry, a water source andWASH education.In Haiti the Cuban Association con-centrates on medical education withtheir nursing team trained by theAmerican Heart Foundation to operateas educators in basic life support. TheAssociation donated all the education-al material.In Puerto Rico, the Association is aidingthe victims of Hurricane Maria in 2017,with basic essentials, food and medicalassistance.In Nicaragua, there’s support for a spe-cial needs school for Down’s children inCiudad David Matagalpa.

▲ The Dominican Association manages mother and childcare in poor areas of Santo Domingo


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Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, the Order’sDominican Association activities centreon distributing medicines to over 400hospitals, clinics and dispensaries;and on managing two primary healthclinics for mother and child in poor ar-eas of Santo Domingo since 1996 andMonte Plata from 2003. The medicinesare donated by US Foundations and As-sociations, AmeriCares, Food for thePoor and Project Hope. The value ofthe 2016 donations was US$62,300,000.The health clinics provide medical ser-vices at very low cost. In both clinics, aprogramme to prevent vertical HIVtransmission from mother to baby,funded by USAID, has been offeredsince 2003; the clinics also run a ‘FiveStar Award’ for pregnant women whofollow pregnancy care requirements -so successful a project that it has beenadopted at national level. A third clinicwas officially opened in 2017 in Haina,San Cristobal Province. The Cuban Association of the Order, to-gether with the assistance of the Do-

minican Association, continues its six-monthly medical missions to the Re-public, with 63 doctors (13 specialisa-tions), nurses and volunteers workingat the Dr Manuel J.Centurion Hospital,benefitting over 1,300 patients, with 54surgical interventions each mission.

El Salvador

The Order’s El Salvador Associationruns nine clinics (in Zacatecoluca, Son-sonate, Suchitoto, Chalchuapa, SantaTecla, Coatepeque, Ilobasco andRosario de Mora and San Salvador), in-cluding four laboratories and four den-tal surgeries in eight regions. They alloffer free general medical and dentalservices, for an average of 126,000 pa-tients per year.The El Salvador Volunteer Organisation(ANESOM) coordinates a number ofvolunteers who visit patients in clinics,fund raise, cover emergency responseand provide youth services.Recent special donations: An IT projectsupported by the Agency of Coopera-tion of the Republic of China (Taiwan)set up computerisation of the Order’s

nine clinics which now have a newcomputer system and new equipment;five electrocardiographs were donatedby the Rotary Club of Bologna Est, incollaboration with members inBologna. Five cardiology departmentswere opened in five clinics, enabling40,000 patients to be treated every year(there is a general lack of cardiac cen-tres in El Salvador). A number of new projects were set upin 2016: cooperation for training cours-es for doctors and officials of ANESOMprovided free by Taiwanese universities(all related costs covered by the gov-ernment); the ‘Medical Days’ project –free ophthalmic and orthopaedicsurgery, blood tests and ultrasoundsby doctors in ANESOM’s clinics, dona-tions of medical equipment. An addi-tion, a tri-lateral cooperation for threeprojects was created between the Or-der of Malta/WFP and Republic of Chi-na (Taiwan). The projects provide foodvouchers to new mothers, and dis-tribute food supplements to children 0-48 months, and to renal patients.

Guatemala

The Order’s Association in Guatemalayearly receives and distributes about170 containers of humanitarian aiditems around the country. With the co-operation of 150 institutions, the Orderdistributes the donations to thousandsof poor people and victims of naturaldisasters.The Guatemalan Association continuesto support the National Health Net-work with disposable medical suppliesand hospital furniture and equipment,which it distributes to health centres,hospitals and municipal fire brigades.It also dispenses nutritional supple-ments to around 500 disadvantagedchildren and 75 elderly every year. Nextto the Guatemalan Basilica of the HolyVirgin of the Rosary, the Order’sGuatemalan Association runs a mobilemedical unit, with 6 doctors, 4 psychol-ogists and 4 nurses. In 2017 they at-

▲ Healthcare event for disadvantaged youngsters in Mexico City


tended to over 5,100 patients. Servicesprovided: medical and psychologicalconsultations, emergencies and dona-tions of wheelchairs, crutches andwalkers. Since 2014, the Order hasbeen offering free oncology checkupsfor women. A feeding centre for children inGuatemala City provides food for 100children daily. Guatemala has one ofthe highest rates of chronic malnutri-tion in the world – 4 in 10 children arechronically undernourished. The Hospice Ammaraydando Project,with seven rooms, a clinic and a phar-macy, supports terminally ill patients.

Haiti

The Order’s international relief service,Malteser International, has been work-ing in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.Now located in the capital Port-au-Prince, it cooperates in the rehabilita-tion and reconstruction of schools and

vocational centres and carries out dis-aster preparedness promotion. A sec-ond location in Belle Anse focuses onfood security for very poor families andreforestation and climate change adap-tation. In October 2016 when the devas-tating hurricane Matthew hit Haiti, Mal-teser International again distributedemergency supplies, hygiene kits andan information campaign for those inthe worst affected areas of Cité Soleiland Tabarre. The organisation’s longterm approach in the country is to con-tinue with rebuilding and development.

Honduras

Together with three international NGOs- Americares, Food for the Poor andCape Cares - the Order’s Association inHonduras has developed nationwideprogrammes in the field of health as-sistance.With Americares: importation and dis-tribution of drugs and equipment is as-

sured by the Embassy of the Order andthe Association. In 2016, 234 ship-ments were distributed with a value ofover US $16.7 million.With Food for the Poor: importationand distribution of 18 tons of drugs,equipment and food to a value of US$10.3 million.With Cape Cares: the collaboration ofAmerican doctors, dentists and techni-cians to attend to the medical needs inthe central/southern region of thecountry, bringing their own drugs andequipment. In 2016, 14 medicalbrigades attended 9,100 patients.The Order’s Embassy has provided di-rect assistance to local beneficiaries bychannelling all donations and dealingwith administrative issues. Beneficia-ries were the ‘Bless the Children’Foundation in the Progreso region, tosupport children with drug addiction;to ‘Our Sisters of Notre Dame’ whohave set up homes for children andolder people in the Progreso region; to

▲ Mobile clinic, Guatemala, delivers basic goods to outlying villages following the volcano eruption

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the parishes of San José Obrero andDon Bosco in Tegucigalpa which helppoor families with goods importedthrough the Embassy; and to ‘SorMarìa Rosa’ which has establishedseveral orphanages throughout thecountry, most with a medical clinic.In 2017, this assistance amounted to2,030 tons of medicaments with a valueof US$ 13.7 million.

Mexico

The Association of the Order in Mexicosupports the ‘Internado San JuanBosco’ school near the capital, foundedin 1946, for 141 children. In 2016, a newproject, ‘Aprendiendo a Comer’ startedmeasuring the children for nutritionaldeficiencies, then providing a daily nu-trition plan for each child and teaching

them how to eat well. A new addition:classes for pre-school children aged 3to 5 years.Other projects include: ‘Casa HogarSan Juan’, a retirement home in Mexi-co City for 50 to 60 elderly people; ‘Sal-va a un Niño del SIDA’: in response tothe increased percentage of HIV posi-tive mothers over the age of 15, the As-sociation runs transmission preventionprogrammes; in 2015 it distributed1,260 kg of baby milk and 7,200 litres ofenriched milk for the families, 11,000kg of hygiene kits, courses for mothersand fathers, counselling - activities itcontinues today; Centros AsistencialesZentapatl y Cacalote: the centre is in apoor area of Mexico City, providing 300families with food, dental care, educa-tional courses, job training and reli-gious formation.The Healthcare Days

project organises 20 health days in var-ious centres -1,878 patients receivedgynaecological, paediatric, ophtalmo-logical, dental and psychiatric care andmedicines; in ‘Ayúdame a Crecer’, amedical nutritional project for childrenprovides free examinations to 3,200children a year in five areas and dis-tributes medicines and food packages.Donations of water filters and heaters,clothing and toys are distributed andfamilies are shown the benefits of eat-ing soya products. The Mexican Association has an Emer-gency Alert Programme whose aim isto create a culture of prevention in pop-ulations at risk, with first aid coursesand training, to act before, during andafter recurrent natural disasters in lo-cal regions.Malteser International has supported

▲ One of the Order’s many support activities, from food parcels to medicines, to the disadvantaged


the Mexican Association since 2007 inMexico D.F., Tabasco and Veracruz withincome generation and health care ini-tiatives and risk preparedness training.

Nicaragua

From the start of 2017, the Order’s As-sociation in Nicaragua has been work-ing with the Food for the Poor organi-sation to accept donations of medicalequipment to distribute. The first ship-ment of 200 wheelchairs, hospital bedsand general medical items totalledUS$15 million.The Order’s Embassy to Nicaragua hasbeen supporting the most vulnerable insociety, coordinating millions of dol-lars’ worth of humanitarian aid sent byAmericares.

Panama

In Panama, the Order’s PanamanianAssociation supports two schools inpoor areas of Panama City by assistinghandicapped children, providing schoolitems and, recently, restructuringsome of the buildings. Since 2007, ev-ery three months the Order has beenorganising medical mission tours, enti-tled ‘Christ Heals’, to treat poor resi-dents in the Darien jungle with doctorsfrom the Ministry of Health, dentistsand ophthalmologists. An annualChristmas Day event brings joy and awarm meal to children in Panama’spoorest communities. For World Youth Day 2019, the Order issending 110 volunteer paramedicsfrom France, Germany and Italy, to sup-port the Panamanian civil protectionauthorities.

Paraguay

Paraguay Servicio de Emergencia Mal-ta (SEMA), the relief organisation of theOrder in Paraguay, provides medicalassistance at major events and pil-grimages to the Virgin of Caacupé andoffers medical and dental care to native

populations. The Order also supports the MedicalFaculty of the Asunciòn University, theresearch Institute of Health Science,the Paraguayan Society of Paediatricsand the Ministry of Health. In the ‘Puesto de Emergencia Malta’,which operates from premises donatedby the Embassy to the Association, freemeals are distributed to poor childrenwhose mothers also benefit fromcourses in cookery and hairdressing,and health education.

Peru

In Peru, the Order’s Peruvian Associa-tion’s activities in 2016 and 2017 in-clude: a Christmas celebration for chil-dren from poor families in villagesaround Lima (Valle Amauta and Puru-choco in Ate, San Isidro, Chosica andCañete); education in schools cam-paign with distribution of notebooksand school items to more than 200children in the native communities ofSanta Teresita and Chuquibambilla inthe jungle; medical care for around11,000 patients a month in the ‘DivineChild Jesus’ Order church, Pamplona

Baja, south of Lima; medical care andmedicine distribution to the local com-munities along the Napo River thanksto an agreement with the PeruvianNavy; donation of 440 kilos of fish tothe Home of Santo Toribio de Mogrove-jo, where members of the Peruvian As-sociation work with children andadults. The donation also includedclothing and toys for Epiphany; medicalcampaign in the native community ofSanto Tomàs, Nanay River, in coopera-tion with the Peruvian Navy, plus adental campaign for the children fromthe Order’s soup kitchen in ValleAmauta, Ate; and stretchers for physio-therapy to the Naval Polyclinic of Quito,Amazonas region.In January 2017, parts of Peru werebattered by almost unceasing rainswith consequent floods, landslides,loss of life and more than 100,000 peo-ple losing their homes. Over half a mil-lion were affected by the storms andthe resulting damage, over a numberof months. In response, staff from Mal-teser Peru, and Order volunteers, pro-vided food, water, and clothing to vic-tims in Ate in April 2017, and to victimsin Piura in May.

▲ Distributing water filtration equipment after natural disasters

97


98

Suriname

The Embassy of the Order in Surinameis supporting: the Sisters of Oord andSt. Vincent’s hospital Home for the El-derly, with food and health care neces-sities; food donations for theAbadukondre orphanage / boardingschool, plus financial aid for extra-cur-ricular activities, and contributions to-wards building a study hall. The Em-bassy also sponsors a psychologist toassist young women who have beensexually abused by family members.Since 2013 the Embassy has been sup-porting the Foundation ‘de Mantel’ inproviding food for the elderly and sickin Paramaribo on a daily basis.

United States of America

In the United States of America, the Or-der is active through its three Associa-tions: the American Association, theFederal Association and the Western

Association. The three Associationsjointly work for the Holy Family Hospi-tal of Bethlehem Foundation based inWashington D.C. Their work includes:hosting area events to raise awarenessof the HFH within the US; working withthe clergy to bring the HFH Foundationstory to the local Diocese, Parishes,etc.; reaching out to businesses, cor-porations and foundations; encourag-ing groups visiting the Holy Land to in-clude a visit to the HFH.The highlight of the American Associa-tion’s activities is its Prison Ministry,involving the Order’s three USA Associ-ations and the Canadian Association.Participants in the project number over2,500 members, auxiliaries and volun-teers in 37 States, with a centralisedcommunication centre. The programme covers: rehabilitationwith distribution of Bibles and anewsletter; pen pal participation; pro-grammes for families ‘Get on the Bus’to bring families together; re-entry

programmes (Dismas Home, OxfordHouses, project Prodigal, Social Ser-vice Guide]; working with the US &Canadian Conferences of CatholicBishops to advocate the abolition of thedeath penalty; working with Catholiccharities to identify Prison Ministry re-sources and expand the role of theApostolate; raising financial resourcesfrom individuals, foundations, etc.The Federal Association covers 29 re-gions and 108 projects, serving over50,000 people in need. Its major activ-ities focus on food kitchens, food dis-tribution, elderly and child care, hospi-tal visits, medical clinics, radio cover-age; Catholic radio support, mobilemedical vans, home rebuilding, visit-ing members in assisted living facili-ties and suffering from family prob-lems, and prison ministry. The worksare carried out by the members, to-gether with over 400 volunteers. Initia-tives in 2017 and 2018 include first aidtraining and first responder training

▲ The free mobile clinic operated by the Order’s Western Association in Oakland, California, treated over 3000 patients in 2018


for volunteers.In 2017, the Western Association con-tributed over 46,000 hours of hands-onservice to its main charities: the MaltaClinic, Los Angeles, for the sick andthe poor provides examinations, as-sessments and free medicines. Theclinic is staffed by 75 volunteers; theMalta Clinic, Oakland, located in theCathedral complex, has 22 volunteerdoctors and 35 volunteer nurses. Since2008, over 25,000 patients have beentreated, with 3,324 in 2017; the ParishNurse Programme, which operates inSan Francisco, Phoenix and Orangeand cares for homebound senior pa-tients. Nurses are accompanied byDames and visit 36 patients/month. In2017, over 400 patients were visited inSan Francisco. Since 2009 the Association has assist-ed in the administration of the WorldDay of the Sick Mass and receptions innine major centres. In 2017, the eventswere televised from Phoenix Cathedral(viewer statistics for channel EWTN:

250 million people in 140 countries).Prison Ministry actions included 40 Or-der members now certified to enterSan Quentin Prison and letter and cardcampaigns to inmates continue. Thewild fires of October 2017 and 2018which struck the wine region, sawmembers mobilising aid to the strick-en with food and basic necessities. TheWestern Association developed arange of charitable works in 2018, tocreate impact in the lives of society’sdisadvantaged, including a soupkitchen in San Francisco, weekendfood for the homeless, and direct as-sistance to the very poor.

Uruguay

The Order’s Association in Uruguay hasa range of support activities, and runscommunity projects in Montevideo anda rural dental project: it assists at thehospice ‘Hogar Pablo VI’, Montevideo,which shelters 20 homeless men everynight (a welcome addition was a con-

tainer of beds and furniture donated bythe Swiss Association); supports the‘Hogar Casita del Señor’, a home for el-derly, low income women, which wasbuilt with a donation from the Associa-tion; in Canelones, on the ground floorof the Association’s new premises, aresidential hospice, ‘Hogar MonseñorJacinto Vera’, shelters 35 young moth-ers and their children; a night and dayshelter, ‘Hogar La Milagrosa’ houses30 people each night and 30 each day.The Association also provides dentalprevention and therapy to a school of220 pupils, in Junta Local. Educationinitiatives: courses of catechism andarithmetic for the children living in oneof the Montevideo homes; a computertraining centre established in the Asso-ciation’s premises in Canelones. The‘Cocina Solidaria 2017’ fed 70 poor chil-dren in the Fortaleza Barrio, Montev-ideo, over the cold season, with mem-bers and volunteers providing 1,000lunches and 3,000 ‘empanadas’(pasties).

▲ Order volunteers regularly prepare lunches and picnics for poor children in Montevideo, Uruguay

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The Order of Malta has a presence

across Asia Pacific where a range

of projects improve healthcare

and living conditions for many

thousands of people.

In addition, the Order’s national

Associations and Malteser

International are at the ready to

respond to natural and man-made

disasters, and implement extensive

programmes in disaster risk

reduction throughout the region.

asia pacific

thanks to donations, can feed 120 or-phans twice a day every month; andsupport for the Sanatorium in Dilijanwhich treats tuberculosis patients,whilst their children are taught andcared for. The Sanatorium also rere-ceives regular donations to purchasethe very expensive imported medicinesfor the patients.In cooperation with the Order’s SwissAssociation, in 2017 the Order provided50 specialised beds to a hospital inneed of support in Etchmiadzin.

Australia

Nationwide, the Order’s Association inAustralia continues its ‘Coats for theHomeless’ project, providing quiltedwater-resistant coats for homelesspeople in the country’s main cities. Theproject is managed from the Order’sQueensland branch. Over 6,000 coatswere distributed in 2017 (doubling thenumber of three years earlier). A high-light in 2017 was the Association’s par-ticipation in the first Asia Pacific sum-mer camp for young disabled, held inSingapore. In New South Wales, support for Gor-man House in Sydney, a residentialdrug and alcohol detoxification and re-habilitation centre is ongoing, and in-cludes legal and financial counselling.There is also long term support for thePalliative Care Unit and Day Centre at

St Joseph’s Hospital, Auburn. Since2015, a Community Care Van, operatedevery Monday by a nurse from St Vin-cent’s Hospital Sydney and volunteerdrivers from the Order of Malta, pro-vides, healthcare and seasonal itemsto Sydney’s homeless.In Queensland, the Order supports the‘Knights of Malta Palliative Home CareHospice’, founded in 1981 at Mt OlivetHospital and provides funding for ma-jor psychiatric research of the termi-nally ill. In Victoria, the Order is a part-ner in the Eastern Palliative Care Serv-ice, which provides home-based pallia-tive care to a catchment of 1.3 millionpeople in East Melbourne; a Homeless-ness Group is in contact with the hous-ing ministry and arranges emergencyhousing; the well regarded FridayNight School is focussed on social andacademic integration for refugee. InWestern Australia, the Order runs the‘Reading Recovery Programme’ forAboriginal children in communities inthe Kimberleys - so successful it is nowgovernment funded. Activities abroad: the Association is in-volved in projects in Hong Kong, main-land China, Vietnam and in Timor Leste.

Cambodia

There is no national health system inCambodia. Since 2005, the Order’s in-ternational relief service, Malteser In-

Afghanistan

In late 2016, with the repatriation ofrefugees, over a million have returned,forced to live in provisional camps asthe country struggled to feed them andhouse them. A provisional camp wasset up in the province of Laghman foraround 400 of the returning families. Since March, 2017, Malteser Interna-tional, in cooperation with Afghanisch-er Frauenverein e.V. (Association ofAfghan Women), and its local partnerorganisation, Union Aid, has been sup-porting the families (about 2,800 peo-ple) who are impoverished, live intents, suffer cold and diseases in thefreezing winter and the difficulty offinding even occasional jobs. The or-ganisations have distributed warmblankets, gas cylinders for heatingstoves and basic food stuffs – the es-sentials for survival.

Armenia

The Order’s Embassy in Armenia con-tinues to support a school for speechand hearing impaired children in Yere-van, and provides a yearly sum forthem to attend summer camps. The Embassy has been carrying outtwo humanitarian aid projects for sev-eral years, despite the difficulties inraising funds in Armenia: support forthe Orphanage of Zvartnotz which,

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SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - ASIA PACIFIC

ternational, has been working with alocal partner in Oddar Meanchey for acommunity-based health insurancesystem covering 30 villages. In SiemReap, where undernourishment ofchildren is a major problem, they pro-vide nutritional supplements and vita-min-enriched foods, and run educa-tional campaigns in hygiene and nutri-tion. In Samrong, four programmescover 80 rural populations, strengthen-ing the community-based healthcaresystem and mother and child health,and providing school meals.Other works include very successfulsanitation projects - construction ofrainwater harvesting tanks in fiveschools, construction of latrines in fiveschools and 16 villages, as well as an-ti-dengue campaigns in 32 villages.

Georgia

Since the end of 2008 the Embassy ofthe Order to Georgia has been provid-ing humanitarian aid to Georgia in var-ious ways. In 2016 the Embassy cared for 60 sickpeople, some of them terminal pa-tients, providing medicines and foodthrough the ‘Healthcare Tbilisi’ project.From 2017, among the Embassy’s proj-

ects is a cooperation with the Order’sGerman Malteser Hilfsdienst (MHD) inthe management of a home for dis-abled people in the province of Kutaisi.

Hong Kong (china)

The Order of Malta in Hong Kong runsprojects locally and on mainland China.In Hong Kong, there are outings and ac-tivities for families who live below the

poverty line – the ‘Flying Young’ pro-gramme; and volunteer work with thechildren in the Caritas Lok Yi special ed-ucation school for disabled children.The Hong Kong Delegation became the48th national Association of the Order in2018.

India

The Order of Malta, through Malteser In-ternational, has been active in India fol-lowing a series of natural catastrophes.Disastrous floods from the Koshi Riversystem have threatened the state of Bi-har since 2008. Because of the contin-uing risk of flooding and insufficientwater and sanitation supply MalteserInternational trains alternative waysfor livelihoods and disaster risk reduc-tion, and is providing access to waterand sanitation, benefitting 5,000households. Recurring drought in southern TamilNadu and local violence has meantmuch emigration, affecting the localeconomy so that young people have lit-tle work opportunity. Additionally thecaste system brings social marginali-sation. Support measures for theyoung include training life skills, finan-

▲ The Order runs disaster risk reduction programmes in southern Asia, where hurricanesare a regular phenomenon

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The fight against leprosyCIOMAL (Comité Internationale de l’Ordre de Malte) was founded in Genevato coordinate the Order's projects to fight leprosy and exclusion associatedwith the disease. It has been operating in Cambodia since 1994 in cooper-ation with the local government, supporting the Cambodian National Lep-rosy Control Programme. CIOMAL also finances vocational training, spon-sorships for primary/secondary school or university (over 100 in 2016) aswell as micro finance for small businesses in livestock/agricultural proj-ects. Awareness campaigns have been organised in garment factories,with training and explanatory documents offered. Running for over tenyears, it means that 30,000 garment workers distribute the documents intheir villages every year. Another, creating theatre productions which ex-plain the disease, started in 2016 and has been featured on national tele-vision. Since 2000, with the support of Ordre de Malte France, the 50-bed KienKhleang Leprosy Rehabilitation Programme (KKLRC) in Phnom Penh isrecognised as a centre of excellence.


cial support for educating the disabled,support for HIV/AIDS positive patients,community care. Ordre de Malte France has had a repre-sentation in Delhi since 1984. Currentcare activities cover a day care centrein a poor area of the city which doublesas a school, a centre for the homelesswhich collects street children, a hos-pice for former leprosy victims nearChennai (Madras), support for a mobileclinic in Pondicherry and a school inShanti engaged in the fight againstmalnutrition.

INDONESIA

Following the powerful earthquake inSeptember 2018, measuring 7.5 on theRichter scale and the tsunami off thecoast of the Indonesian island of Sulawe-si, Malteser International is supportingits Indonesian partner, YAKKUM, with

the repair and rehabilitation of damagedhealth centres in Sulawesi. Aid includesprovision of medical supplies for the in-jured. Malteser International also set upan emergency fund for the distribution ofessential relief materials for thousandsof victims of the earthquake. Kazakhstan

In 2017 the Order’s Ambassador toKazakhstan continued assistance tothe Missionaries of Charity (Sisters ofSt. Mother Teresa), financially and lo-gistically, and also in the preparationand distribution of food and medicinesto sick and poor people in the capital,Astana.

Laos

In Vientiane, Laos, the work of Ordre deMalte France has been focussed on

leprosy since the 1960s. In 2009 a ded-icated health centre with an operatingtheatre was opened – the PavilionMalte. The centre includes a depart-ment specialising in treating foot ul-cers in patients, in leprosy detectionand care, and in dermatology. The Order has partnerships with twoclinics, both in Vientiane - in the Mit-thaphab Hospital and the National Der-matological Centre; and has con-tributed to renovations at the NationalCentre for Dermatology, Vientiane andat Lak Sam Seap, has renovated a re-habilitation centre.

Myanmar

Malteser International has been work-ing in Myanmar since 1996, employingits own staff from 2001. It now employsmore than 350 local staff in Rakhine,Shan and Kayin states, operating in pri-

▲ Providing care for displaced Rohingya in refugee camps

102


mary health care, WASH, Disaster RiskReduction programmes, climate changeadaptation and post disaster relief.Another focus is health care for dis-placed people (the Rohingya) who havefled from Myanmar to Thailand andBangladesh, where they do not haverefugee status and are therefore noteligible for medical care.

Nepal

Malteser International was on theground in Nepal immediately after the2015 earthquakes and remains, build-ing earthquake resistant houses, re-pairing water reservoirs, training dis-aster risk management. As a result of the Koshi River systemfloods around the border, as recentlyas 2017, some areas are at risk of fur-ther flooding, some facing farmlandsturning into deserts. Malteser Interna-tional is working to aid livelihood andincome generation, with disaster riskreduction training and construction ofirrigation systems, for 3,000 house-holds in Sunsari.

Pakistan

With a continuous presence in Pakistansince 2005, Malteser International’swork has focussed from 2014 on healthand disaster risk reduction and care ofpregnant women and young children.Help has also been provided to internal-ly displaced families in the north west,at Bannu and Peshawar. With its part-ner organisation, support is offered tofifteen healthcare facilities in the com-munities, with basic healthcare and nu-trition, and emergency preparedness.

Philippines

The Order’s Association in the Philip-pines carried out two major emergencyactivities:1. Aid for victims of typhoon Nona(Melor) in Northern Samar in January2016 which benefited 10,000 people.Actions included ‘Shelter assistancefor affected households in Laoang’,aiding 641 households in five villages,which received shelter material.2. Following Typhoon Lawin (Haima) in

October 2016, the Association distrib-uted food and non-food items and hy-giene kits to 6,600 in the Archdiocese ofToguegarao, Cagayan.The ‘Improved water, sanitation & hy-giene services in Lengaoan, Benguet’project was carried out from Septem-ber to December 2016 – for an intaketank and seven distribution tanks, 40rainwater harvesting units, 30 commu-nal pit latrines, male and female la-trines, handwashing and training facil-ities, bio gas digesters, 40 bio sand fil-ters, reforestation management, med-ical and dental missions. The 2,365beneficiaries produce 80% of the veg-etables in the area. Other activities: The ‘Paediatric Malnu-trition – a Road to a better Tomorrow’project in the San Agustìn Parish,Parañaque, in 2016.Medical Missions/First Aid and Emer-gency Assistance in six locations, aswell as 11 medical missions for the HIV& AIDS awareness programme, provid-ing: a day camp with young volunteersand disabled persons and an annualearly Christmas celebration in the

103

▲ The Order’s international relief agency, immediately on site after the Nepal earthquake with emergency aid, is now rebuilding homes andlivelihoods


104

Hogar de San Joaquin.The Order has also conducted aware-ness workshops in HIV/AIDs inParanaque City and in San Juan. First aid stations are provided on spe-cial occasions, at the request of theArchbishop of Manila. A fundraising campaign launched bythe Grand Magistry for Typhoon Haiyanallowed the purchase of medical equip-ment for the Archdiocese of Palo,Layte, and musical instruments for theSan Antonio de Padua youth choir.Awareness conferences held in 2016:The ‘Prevention and Addressing vita-min A deficiency’ programme wasaimed at 300 children aged from 6months to 6 years;Seminar ‘It’s Okay, I got you back’ ondepression, suicide, alcohol and drugabuse for 80 participants. Malteser In-ternational has created a project forcommunity based disaster risk reduc-tion management in the Diocese ofCatarman, Northern Samar. It in-cludes disaster preparedness, rescueand first aid, emergency WASH, DRRhandbook and training, DRR knowl-edge replication.

Singapore

In Singapore, the Order’s Associationorganises a range of activities locally,as well as providing aid abroad. In Sin-gapore:Members regularly visit the Assisi Hos-pice for the terminally ill and at St.Theresa’s Home, arrange and provideoutings for the sick and the disabledpatients; in prison ministry, membersand volunteers work with the Archdio-cese’s Prison Ministry in counsellingprisoners and helping them with spiri-tual rehabilitation after discharge;members also help patients and resi-dents at the St. Joseph’s Home for thesick elderly, at the Good Shepard Homeat Marymount for single mothers andbroken families, the Mount AlverniaHospital, and the Dementia Home atApex Harmony Lodge.In 2016, the Singapore Association or-ganised the first Asia Pacific SummerCamp for Disabled Youth, aged be-tween 18 and 30, counting 60 partici-pants from Australia, Hong Kong, thePhilippines, Singapore and Thailand,all accompanied by an Order volunteer.

Abroad, the Association supports anumber of Order projects: the HolyFamily Hospital in Bethlehem, the ac-tivities of Malteser International, a re-habilitation programme in Aceh, In-donesia, and in Laos, building a dis-pensary and clinic in Chiem Cong andproviding medical equipment to the Lu-ang Prabang hospital.

South Korea

Members of the Order in South Korea,together with volunteers, work at thenewly renovated ‘House of Catholic Loveand Peace’ in Seoul for the LunchboxProject. They cooked, packed and deliv-ered 5,100 lunch boxes over 2017 to 300lonely people living in the city’s slums.

Tajikistan

The Order’s Embassy in Tajikistan is fo-cussing on humanitarian and medicalassistance, as poverty reduction andeconomic growth are aiming forgreater impact in the country.

Thailand

Malteser International has been oper-ating in Thailand for the past 20 years.Healthcare projects in refugee campsat the Myanmar border near Le Kohprovide medical assistance to morethan 33,000 refugees who are notrecognised by the Thai government andare not entitled to medical care. For-mation programmes include trainingtraditional birth attendants (midwives),community health workers and lead-ers, benefitting 70,000 people. CIOMAL, the Order’s foundation to sup-port Hansen’s disease victims, has alsobeen active in Thailand for many yearswith a leprosy prevention and therapyprogramme.The Embassy of the Order to Thailand isinvolved in supporting a number of proj-ects, including aid for medical teams inthe villages of the northern hill tribes,which is supplied every quarter.

▲ The Asia Pacific summer camp for young disabled is now an annual event


Following widespread flooding in thecountry in August 2017, Order membersand friends, together with other organ-isations, continue to offer support tovictims - 17,000 houses were estimatedto have been affected by water andmud. Medical care is a high priority, asis the supply of hygiene equipment.

Timor-Leste

The Order, through its Embassy, hasbeen managing four main projects inTimor-Leste: - the Dominican Orphanage at Hera, ascholarship programme for orphansand other deserving students, caringfor 26 boys aged 6 to 22; - non-criticalPatient Transport Service; - a boys’ or-phanage at Hera, 20 km from Dili, wasopened in 2014 and now houses 26boys, with ages ranging from 6 to 18; -the new Medical Clinic at Timor Plaza,which opened in November 2017. Offer-ing primary health care, it has facilitiesto treat 200 patients a day, has a special

focus on care for mothers and childrenand is free for eligible Timorese.The Order supports two clinics, locatedin Maubara (40 km from Dili) and in Be-bonuk (Dili), providing each with an Or-der of Malta (SMOM) ambulance donat-ed by the St. John Ambulance Serviceof Western Australia and medical ad-vice on clinic operation procedures.Regular shipments of pharmaceuticalsfrom Australia are sent to a number ofclinics. A Creating Leaders ScholarshipProgramme currently supports 11 chil-dren, all from disadvantaged back-grounds, to participate in formal con-tinuing education, to become positiveagents for change and progress.Funding for the construction of a tuber-culosis clinic at Venilale is underway.

Vietnam

The Order began working in Vietnam in1966. This was the first overseas mis-sion for the Order’s international reliefagency, Malteser International – at the

time called the Malteser Foreign AidService. Fifty years on, the organisationnow has a special emphasis in the cen-tral provinces, among the poorest ar-eas in the country, on disaster risk re-duction awareness, in particular for therisks posed to the disabled caught upin these crises. Training workshops fortheir inclusion in DRR are given atcommunity, district and regional level.In Vietnam 7.8% of people have one ormore disabilities. Malteser Interna-tional also runs a variety of activities:hygiene education in schools, nutritionawareness, forest preservation as wellas disaster preparedness in villages.Ordre de Malte France runs six med-ical centres in the country, with oper-ating theatres specialised in treatingleprosy. The centres in Ben San, Can-tho, Nha Trang, Quy Hoa and Ho ChiMinh Ville deal with rehabilitation sur-gery for leprosy patients, in Dilinhtreatment is for diabetic and leprosyulcers and in Quy Hoa, specialisationsare in ophthalmology.

▲ The Order’s clinic in Timor-Leste treats 200 patients every day

105


The Order of Malta in Europe cares

for displaced persons, refugees,

migrants, the disabled, the homeless

and the elderly sick.

The Order also provides training

programmes for first-aiders, health

education, medical and social care

EUROPeservices in remote areas

and in underprivileged inner city

environments, runs hospitals,

old people’s homes, transport for the

disabled, meals on wheels services,

rehabilitation and day care centres,

including special centres for people

with dementia and a number of

first-aid and emergency corps that

provide support after natural or

manmade disasters.

medical centre at the organisation’s HQprovided 1,000 consultations to Romapatients, as well as to Shkodër citizenswith no health insurance, and launchedthe ‘One step forward for the integra-tion of Roma and Gypsy communities’programme. The ‘Roma community inaction’ project’, started in Shkodër in2016 with Save the Children Albania for30 children and 98 parents, offers ca-pacity building, cooperation with localinstitutions, preparing the young to be-come social and political members ofsociety. In 2017, the summer camp atVelipoje benefitted 220 Roma childrenfrom remote areas of northern Albania.The annual summer camp at the same

location for 25 disabled people was or-ganised by young Order volunteers. Other activities: the Malteser AlbaniaKindergarten in Shkodër cares for 62disadvantaged children, including Ro-ma; the Malteser Consultation andService Centre for the community inShkodër, with additional services inLac Vau Dejes, provides weekly assis-tance to 85 disabled (60 children, 25young women) and treatment for 38mainly autistic youngsters aged 3 to 16,as well as a special ‘Every child readyto read’ project to combat illiteracy. Re-cently launched: the ‘Old is Gold’ cen-tre for 85 marginalised elderly, offeringa social meeting place, basic healthcare and psycho-social support.In 2017, the Multidisciplinary Socio -Medical Centre for Roma and Egyptiancommunities was launched in Lezha,with activities for 15 pre-school chil-dren, after school for 25, sports for 35youngsters, and illiteracy courses foradults, as well as legal assistance andhealth services.

Austria

Malteser Hospitaldienst Austria (MH-DA), the Order’s Austrian relief organi-sation, founded in 1956 and today a sig-nificant volunteer emergency service inthe country, counts 2,000 volunteers,who, together with Order members,

Albania

The Order of Malta Relief Organisationin Albania (MNSH), established 1995,provides medical examinations, treat-ment and emergency ambulancetransport in the mountain villages ofBoge, Bratosh and Sheld – treatingover 3,000 patients in 2017. Medicalservices in the municipalities ofShkoder, Vau Dejes and Malesi e Mad-he benefitted 3,250 patients in 2017. The organisation also provides first aidat national events, including recent na-tional football championships. Special, ongoing projects focus on so-cially integrating the Roma. In 2017 the

▲ Harsh winters in the north of the country mean emergency callouts for the Order’s ReliefOrganisation in Albania (MNSH)

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SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - EUROPE

107

provided a total of 170,000 hours ofservice caring for the sick and theneedy in 2017.From 22-29 July 2017, the Grand Prioryof Austria and Malteser HospitaldienstAustria hosted the Order’s 34th Inter-national Summer Camp for Young Dis-abled, in sunkissed SalzburgMalteser Hospitaldienst Austria(which has now unified all its voluntaryunits) offers a wide range of social ac-tivities and programmes, includingparticipation in the Order’s Interna-tional Summer Camp, canoeing inStyria with the handicapped, home andhospital visits, weekly soup kitchen,meals on wheels and leisure activitiesfor the disadvantaged and the elderly.The Malteser Alten- und Krankendi-enst (MAKD) project: 28 volunteersregularly visit the disabled, the sick,and the homeless in hospitals or hos-pices, and arrange outings; from Mal-teser Betreuungsdienst (MBD), 42 vol-unteers regularly visit 33 disabled athome or in institutions; AIDS DienstMalteser (ADM) - 13 volunteers makehome and hospital visits, run monthlycoffee and cake meetings in a generalhospital ward, organise leisure activi-ties and outings, and canoeing camps;with Malteser Palliative Dienst (MPD),16 volunteers come to terminally illpatients at home or in hospital; since2009 Malteser Medikamentenhilfe(MMH) has been collecting medicinesfrom producers, wholesale traders,and pharmacies and sending them toAfghanistan, Bosnia, Greece, Romania

and Ukraine, the Syrian refugeecamps, and to Albania, Bulgaria. WithRumänienhilfe (RH), volunteers, in co-operation with the Romanian ReliefService RH, collect clothing, shoes, hy-giene and nursing items for Romania;Haus Malta, Vienna, cares for disabledelderly residents, with 25 employees,15 volunteers, 35 beds; Malteser CareRing (MCR) provides professionalhome care (nursing and general homehelp) to 304 elderly. Malteser Kinder-hilfe runs a residential nursing facilityfor up to 10 terminally ill youngsters -a completely new care concept in Aus-tria for young sufferers. 8 childrenwere cared for in 2017.In Graz, an after-school programme forRoma children was launched in Sep-tember 2017, aimed at encouraging ac-

ademic progress and social integration.Abroad: support for Syrian refugees inLebanon through ‘Nachbar in Not’ ap-peal and for Malteser International’sdrought crisis programme in Africa.

Belarus

The Embassy of the Order to Belarushas been providing aid in the countrysince 1996, working in collaborationwith Caritas and the BelarussianState’s regional and local authoritiesin distributing daily essentials forthose in need, providing help for or-phans, renovating a children’s homeand a kindergarten, plus the supply ofmedicines to Belarusian healthcareinstitutions by various associationsunder the aegis of the Order of Malta,organisation of on-the-job training forBelarusian doctors in foreign universi-ty clinics and humanitarian assistanceprogrammes, such as Ljubliu. In thewake of the Chernobyl disaster, from2008 the Ljubliu Project has sent 20Belarus teenagers every year to behosted by the Order’s Italian Emer-gency Corps (CISOM) for a month longsummer holiday by the sea in Cecina,Italy, providing medical checkups andthe opportunity to strengthen their im-mune systems.

Reintegrating returnees to Northern AlbaniaFollowing the return to Albania of many families who had sold up every-thing and left the country in search of employment abroad and returneddestitute, in early 2017 the Relief Organisation responded. They deliv-ered 2,000 leaflets and posters on reintegration opportunities, gave psy-chological support and speech therapy and offered legal assistance to38 families, as well as orientation to 260 people to re-enter the healthservice. 50 families received food packages and 589 were given voca-tional training counselling and orientation. Support services are offeredin Tirana, Fushe Kruje, Puke, Lezhe and Malesi e Madhe.

▲ Malteser Hospitaldienst Austria is a significant volunteer emergency service in the country


Belgium

The Order’s Association in Belgiumruns the La Fontaine Houses in Brus-sels (created in 1996), Liège (2000) andGhent (2014) for the homeless. Theyprovide basic medical care, showersand laundry facilities, hairdressing,pedicure, sewing, cafeteria and cloth-ing. In 2016 27,000 homeless visitedthe three centres, over 25,000 in 2017.They are run with three employees and120 volunteers.The Brussels location has a new, larg-er house from 2017, in Liège focus ison mental health and addiction prob-lems, in Ghent visitors in 2016 in-creased by 27% - the centre also pro-vides weekly integration projects forRoma children.The Association’s activities are carriedout by members and over 900 volun-teers, especially visiting the elderly inhospitals and hospices. Volunteers re-ceive regular medical training, includ-ing in palliative care. In 2016, volunteer teams were inKrakow for the World Youth Day and inRome for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The ‘Our Weekends’ project: four peryear, for families with disabled chil-dren, offering a rest period for the fam-

ilies and encouraging friendshipsamong the children.The ‘Our Sundays’ project: Eight timesa year 20 volunteers prepare an activityfor 12-15 disabled children - outside(eg. an exhibition) or inside (eg. danc-ing classes with wheelchairs or crafts).The day always concludes with a Mass.‘Mini Lourdes’ – youngsters aged 9-11,with adult supervision, take part in theOrder’s international Lourdes pilgrim-age, to teach the children to respectdifferences and learn responsibility. Order of Malta Belgium International

Aid ASBL (MBI), is affiliated to the Bel-gian Association, with activities outsideBelgium in the health sector in devel-oping countries: The Belgian Association also supportsprojects in the Democratic Republic ofCongo and at the Order of Malta HolyFamily Hospital, Palestine.

Bosnia Herzogovina

The Embassy of the Order in Bosniaand Herzegovina, in collaboration withGerman Malteser Hilsfdienst teams,organises an ambulance service inMedjugorje during the pilgrimage sea-son (April to October) with local volun-teer doctors and helpers (averaging6,000 medical interventions). The Em-bassy also supports Catholic parishes,with help for restoring and re-equip-ping churches, such as the support forthe parish church of Bl.Majke Terezije,Vogošća, recently donating bells for thebell tower and material to build awooden pedestrian bridge to connectthe parish with the village. In collabo-ration with the Law Faculty of Universi-ty of Sarajevo and the Bucerius LawSchool in Hamburg, an internationaluniversity post-graduate exchangeprogramme trains students in consti-tutional and EU law. ▲ Three day centres for the homeless in Belgium offer their guests showers, laundry, warm

food, clothing and basic medical care

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Assisting refugeesSince July 2015, Malteser Refugee Aid has been active in refugee and in-tegration assistance throughout Austria. Relief programmes for refugeescontinue in the main cities: in Innsbruck, the Order offers ambulance,first aid and medical care, support with medical appointments and publicauthorities, and language courses for refugees. Salzburg projects dealwith emergency supplies and medical care, and daily language coursesfor refugees. In Linz, cooperation with the Red Cross ensures nightemergency accommodation for the homeless. Members in Vienna ar-ranged accommodation for 600-800 Syrian refugees in cooperation withother partners (MHDA staffs the facility three times a week); the organi-sation runs Saturday language courses with the local Syrian Orthodoxchurch, and provides legal counselling for the refugees. There are excur-sions twice a week for refugee children. In Graz there is Saturday care for150 unaccompanied refugee minors.


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Bulgaria

SInce 2005, when the Embassy was es-tablished in Sofia, 460 initiatives tohelp the needy have been carried out in177 locations in Bulgaria. 21 vehicles –ambulances and other vehicles, andmini buses, have been donated to hos-pitals, orphanages and social centrescaring for the elderly and for singlemothers – including in Belene, Busov-grad, Iskrez, Malko Tarnovo, Satovcha,Sofia, Stara Zagora, Rakovski, andmany other locations. For the hospitals and day care cen-tres, these included medical equip-ment for the operating theatres andconsulting rooms, electric beds, andmedical drugs. In the schools and re-ception centres for refugees from theMiddle East, together with supportfrom the government of the Republicof China (Taiwan), consignments ofcomputer equipment have benefitedthe institutions.

Every winter from 2013, hot meals areprovided for the poor three times aweek in Sofia, and from 2014, the Em-bassy has organised summer holidaysfor young orphans and Roma children,in areas of natural beauty around thecountry. The children’s illustrations ofthese happy times have been bound in-to a book. Since 2017, a young volun-teer group has been taking part in theInternational Summer Camp for YoungDisabled.

Croatia

Through the Order’s relief organisationin Croatia, Hrvatska Malteska Sluzba(HMS), created in 1993 during theBalkans crisis, members of the Orderorganise an annual holiday in Porec,Istria, for 15 disabled young from theBjelovar diocese. A group of volunteersaccompanied disabled guests to theOrder’s International Summer Camp,in 2016 (in Poland) and 2017 (Austria).

Cyprus

In Cyprus, through the Order’s Em-bassy, the first humanitarian activitywas set up in April 2017, in the villageof Kormakitis, in the self declaredTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,providing medical assistance to the lo-cal First Aid unit, and donating an am-bulance. In 2018 new incubators werepresented to the Makarios Children’sHospital.

Czech Republic

The relief organisation of the Grand Pri-ory of Bohemia in the Czech Republic,Maltézká Pomoc o.p.s., has a staff of140 and 300 volunteers carrying out itsmany activities in 13 cities. A strong fo-cus is personal assistance for the eld-erly or handicapped, so they can stayliving at home. 339 beneficiaries in 2016were aided by 130 volunteers who pro-vided 81,301 hours of service.A social activation service for families –48 in 2016, and now many more – wasaimed at preventing social exclusion.Help for the homeless, an outreachservice, offered over 1,000 hours of helpin 2017 and 2018. There is also a trans-port service for people with specialneeds, and a programme of medical andhumanitarian assistance which in 2016launched a reading and physical activityproject for seniors in nursing homes.In Southern Bohemia, Česká Maltézskápomoc (Czech Maltese Aid) celebratedits 20th anniversary in 2016. Its missionis the care of children and youth withdisabilities, and promotion of social in-tegration. In Strakonice, Borovany, Jin-drichuv Hradec, Czech Budejovice andDomažlice, volunteers visit the elderlyhousebound and those in residentialhomes. The Grand Priory runs the Knights ofMalta school in Kladno for over 100 stu-dents, a Gymnasium (high school) inSkuteč, and the Higher ProfessionalSchool of Nursing in Prague, whichcurrently has 178 students and cele-

▲ Refugees are cared for on arrival in Austria. Malteser Hospitaldienst Austria has beenproviding a wide range of care for those in need since 1956


brated its 20th anniversary in 2016.Guests attend the Order’s InternationalSummer Camp each year and 50 mem-bers accompanied 26 guests on the Or-der’s international Lourdes pilgrim-ages in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

France

Ordre de Malte France has a staff of1,746 in France and abroad and 4,200regular volunteers. In 2017 it celebrat-ed 90 years of service for those in need.Its activities benefitted 14,000 people. Social exclusion support covers soupkitchens, the homeless, night sheltersand professional support for socialreintegration. 52,000 hot meals weredistributed in 2016; medical care forthe homeless and migrants runs underthe ’Platforme Famille’ project in Lille,Metz, Paris and Strasbourg; shelter forthe homeless is on two barges (St.Jeanand St.Michel) on the Seine in Paris,registering 18,000 overnight stays an-nually and at Refuge Ste Claire, Ver-sailles (1,550 stays annually). Support-ers note that scorching summers are

as difficult for fragile homeless as coldwinters. The organisation runs 16 medico-so-cial centres: six hospitals for physicallyor mentally handicapped (325 beds) inRochefort, Roquetaillade, Vigneux,Paris, Tours and Fontaine Française;five centres for autistic patients (98

beds) in Rochefort (2), Sallanches, Vi-gneux/La Maison Bleue, Bullion andLèves; three establishments for thedependent elderly (508 beds) in Nice,Saint-Etienne and Clamart.The organisation offers training pro-grammes on autism and Alzheimer’ssupport, courses for ambulance drivers(Paris, Brest, Toulon, Bordeaux) andfirst aid courses in 27 centres. A serviceto assist those being repatriated hasbeen in place for a number of years.Current key activities: Emergency workalongside the French Civil Protection incase of catastrophes – in 2016, 40 Orderfirst aiders and eight ambulances pro-vided emergency help during the Bata-clan tragedy. Defence of migrants’rights, by providing social and legalhelp for individuals in detention centresand migrant families recently arrived,assisted 4,727 migrants in 2016-17.

Germany

The Order of Malta in Germany oper-ates an extensive range of care pro-grammes across the country throughits relief corps, Malteser Hilfsdienst(MHD). Founded in 1953, the reliefservice is now one of the largest chari-table service providers in Germany. A▲ Ordre de Malte France intervenes during the Bataclan attack

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Ordre de Malte France operates in 27 countriesOrdre de Malte France works in Africa the Middle East and Asia. There areseven hospitals in Senegal, Benin, Togo, Equador, Palestine, Cameroon,Madagascar, with a total of 528 beds; 160 dispensaries and health centres,in Senegal, Tchad, Mali, Benin, Niger, Congo, India, Ivory Coast, Cameroon,Central African Republic, Guinea, Gabon, Madagascar, Lebanon and Iraq.A medicines distribution programme supports dispensaries in Africa, ship-ping medications and equipment and a programme of preventive meas-ures against the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, organised in 2015 with MalteserInternational, continued in 2016. New in Njombé, Cameroon, in 2016: atraining centre for paramedics and first responders.A special focus is programmes for leprosy prevention and care in Senegal(Tilène, Ziguinchor), Cameroon (Guili, Guider and Mokolo), Gabon(Ebeigne), India (Pondichéry and Shadipur), Brazil (Macapa), Egypt (AbouZabal) and in Cambodia (Kien Khleang and Pnom Penh), Vietnam and Laos.In addition, the MALTALEP programme supports international teams inleprosy research.


million donors, 32,900 professionalsand 51,000 volunteers are involved inthe care it provides in 700 locations.Care stretches from support for highschoolers, to young drug addicts, to thehomeless, to those with handicaps, tothe elderly with dementia, and it is car-ried out in 10 hospitals, 32 residentialhomes, three high schools, as well asday clinics, soup kitchens and 250 res-cue stations. Work in civil protection in-cludes providing first aid and trainingand rescue services. Care for thosesuffering from dementia is a specialongoing concern, with the latest carepractices developed at Silviahemmet,founded by HM Queen Silvia in 1996.A significant percentage of medicaltransportation throughout Germany,including events, first aid on the street,medical transfers from house to hospi-tal and hospital to hospital is carriedout by Malteser. The organisation runs Outpatient CareServices in 33 cities across the coun-try. There are voluntary social services

where qualified volunteers take care ofold, sick and lonely people, with theemphasis on giving quality and joy oflife. There is a support service whichoffers visits with dogs – they can oftensucceed in creating what humans can-not. Currently, there are more than800 Maltese visiting dogs and handlersin action. Another innovation is the‘Café Malta’, which is a care and reliefservice for people with dementia andtheir care-givers. There are 58 of themaround the country. And a HomeEmergency Call Service which oper-ates 365 days a year.

Great Britain

The British Association of the Order ofMalta in Great Britain focuses on carefor the elderly, on homelessness, andon support for the lonely. The organisation is one of two partnersin the Orders of St John Care Trust (OS-JCT), the country’s second largestprovider of not-for-profit care for the

elderly. Its 72 homes, run by 4,000 stafffor 3,500 residents, are located in fourcounties - Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire,Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, with two newHomes opened in 2017, and three in2018. A special emphasis is care for de-mentia patients. Soup kitchens operate in four locations(two in London, one in Oxford, one inColchester). New in 2017: the Break-fast Club provides a shower and hotbreakfast for the homeless in centralLondon. It is run by 12 very early risingvolunteers who start distribution of atraditional hot ‘English breakfast’ at6.45 am. A new initiative is the Ne-hemiah Project in London, which caresfor just-released inmates with prob-lems of addiction. In Scotland, the 25-year old ‘Dial aJourney’ project provides door to doorjourneys for the elderly, a school runfor disadvantaged children and in 2017,over 37,000 taxi journeys for those with-out transport. In central London, the‘Tea and Company’ project arrangesteatime treats for local lonely and eld-erly every month – singalongs included. The Foreign Aid Service continues itsfundraising to support projects abroad– 2017 focus: famine in South Sudan. In 2018 the British Association and itsyouth organisation, the OMV, hostedthe Order’s 35th International SummerCamp for Young Disabled.

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‘I am caught in my world’ – Malteser Germany’s innovative approachesto dementia careIn line with the strategy for caring for dementia sufferers inspired by thework of Queen Silvia of Sweden, the Silviahemmet philosophy – to em-power people (relatives, professionals, decision-makers) to best accom-pany and care for those suffering from dementia – is followed in all Mal-teser facilities. Patients need no longer fear being caught in their worldof dementia and to be misunderstood.The Malteser network ensures that all fulltime staff and most volun-teers in regular contact with people suffering from dementia are appro-priately trained (eg the nurses and paramedics). Their work involves en-couraging the joy of life, emphasising the good moments and providingperspective for sufferers and relatives beyond the disease.In hospital environments, informed treatment produces good results:the positive personal experiences with care at the Silvia ward, St. Hilde-gardis in Cologne and St. Francis in Flensburg, the Integrative Geriatricsin Bonn and Duisburg, and the Malteser Day Centre in Bottrop, are ex-amples.The hospitals have trained their employees to become experts indementia, with significant improvements in the mobility, mental abilitiesand everyday skills of the patients. Trained staff also run outpatient care for sufferers in their own homes,and outpatient services also include training for relatives and advice onnursing care and long-term care.

▲ Closeness counts: Malteser Hilfsdienstruns care programmes nationwide


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Hungary

Whilst most of the Order’s activities inHungary are carried out by the Order‘sHungarian Charity Service (MagyarMáltai Szeretetszolgálat - MMSz),members of the Association, both inHungary and abroad, are also involvedin the Charity Service’s projects, in-cluding collecting relief goods for theOrder’s homes in Hungary, and forHungarian minorities in Austria, Ger-many and Switzerland. Activities dis-tributing hot meals, visiting the elderly,caring for the disadvantaged, benefit240,000 every year.A founder member of the Charity Serv-ice, Fr. Imre Kozma organised assis-tance for 48,600 East German refugeesin 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.Today it has 5,000 regular and 15,000ad hoc volunteers and is one of Hun-gary’s largest providers of social care.It has 350 locations with 142 localgroups, 210 institutions and 840 em-ployees, caring for the elderly, thehomeless, the disabled, disadvantagedfamilies and children, and drug ad-dicts. It also operates an emergencyservice in times of natural disasters.Health care activities cover a hospital,nursing homes, consulting rooms, amobile pulmonary screening station, amedical device rental service and a vo-

cational/ apprentice school. The Charity Service welcomed manyvery cold homeless into its headquar-ters during the bitter winters of 2016-17 and 2017-18 and organised nine am-bulances to drive the streets at nightlooking for people in distress. By day,they distributed hot food and manageda mobile medical unit. The Service op-erates 60 homeless care institutions. For children, the Charity Service man-ages 33 playgrounds all over Hungaryplus four mobile playgrounds for smallchildren and young people aged 10 to15, offering them playtime, sport, a li-brary, artwork and crafts every day. Aweek’s summer camp for 250 disabledyoungsters is organised yearly at Bala-ton Földvár (Lake Balaton).Social integration programmes for Ro-ma families in Tarnabod and Erk pro-vide housing, employment and farm-ing, with social inclusion projects inMonor, Táska and Pécs-Györgytelep.The annual ‘Giving is joy’ Christmascampaign in supermarkets is run by2,500 volunteers who last year collect-ed 288 tonnes of food, making 33,000Christmas parcels for poor families. In 2016, at the request of the Hungariangovernment, the Service started its‘Presence’ programme in two very poorareas, Tiszabo and Tiszabura, to inte-grate the 6,000 inhabitants. In the sameyear, MMSz founder Fr. Kozma wasawarded the prestigious European Citi-zens Prize for his works over a lifetimewith refugees and those in need. At theMMSz 20th Sports Day in Győr in 2017 -22 teams from 15 towns competed.New initiatives in 2017: the ‘SinfoniaProgramme’ where 700 Roma childrenfrom five centres join together in mu-sic projects. Special tutoring is givento those with particular talent; theopening of the Csilla von BoeselagerCentre in Beregovo for the disabled inTranscarpathia. The Charity Servicesupports 700 needy families in thearea; the taking over from the State ofsix residential homes (500 people) inZalakomár, Sármellék, Görcsöny,

Keresztespuszta, Esztergom and Pilis-marót.The Order’s Embassy to Hungary coop-erates closely with the Association andthe Charity Service in many of their ac-tivities and takes an active part in Ro-ma support in Pecs, Budapest andBeregovo (Ukraine). Support forrefugees is also a strong focus: a Coop-eration Agreement signed between theSerbian government and the CharityService in 2016 supports social pro-grammes in Vojvodina to help refugeesin Serbia, and provides family and childaid programmes in the reception campin Szabadka. The projects are carriedout by over 600 Order volunteers work-ing in the transit zones. The teams arealso providing support – medicalchecks and food and clothing - torefugees arriving at the border.

Ireland

In Ireland, the Order’s AmbulanceCorps, staffed by more than 4,000 vol-unteers in over 80 units, operates 165ambulances, rapid response 4 x 4s andmobile accident and emergency suites,and carries out an extensive range ofcommunity services throughout thecountry. One of the largest voluntaryorganisations in Ireland, it recently cel-ebrated over 75 years of service. Activ-ities cover pre-hospital care and train-ing, support for the homeless and forpeople with physical or intellectual dis-abilities, and first aid services at com-munity and sporting events which in2016 were attended by over three mil-lion people. Ambulance Corps volun-teers give their time and expertise totrain young people in cardiac first re-sponse (CFR) and cardio pulmonary re-suscitation awareness (CPR) – training2,000 in 2016. The junior section is forcadets aged between 10 and 16, whoare trained in basic life-saving skillsand are involved in community work,helping the elderly and disabled. ‘Share to care’ weekend holidays forfamilies of children with life limiting

▲ The Hungarian Charity Service works in350 locations around the country, bene-fitting 240,000 annually


conditions offer a relaxing time for all.With 800 participants in 2016 over 12weekends, the response has far exceed-ed expected participation in the project. A project to provide food, clothing andsupport for the homeless in St StephensGreen in Dublin – the ‘Knight Run’ - hasbeen operating since 2014. Guests andcarers participated in the Order’s Inter-national Summer Camp for Young Dis-abled in 2016, 2017, 2018. The Association brings guests on pil-grimage to the Shrine of Knock, wherein 2017 the Order’s Pilgrim Hostel wasopened to able and disabled pilgrimsalike, to Croagh Patrick and to Lour-des, which in 2017 added a special re-membrance wall of honour on the wardfor deceased pilgrims.Abroad, the Irish Association has foryears been sending nurses and mid-

wives to give further education to staffat the Order’s Holy Family Hospital inBethlehem.

Italy

The Order in Italy is made up of threeGrand Priories – Rome, Lombardy andVenice, and Naples and Sicily, and anAssociation. They all engage in helpingthose in need. The Association manages the 240-bedSan Giovanni Battista Hospital, Rome,which has a specialist neuro-rehabili-tation unit for cerebral trauma pa-tients, a specialised ‘ReawakeningUnit’ for patients recovering from coma– one of the very few in Italy - a day carecentre and a polyambulatorio. The Association employs 550 profes-sionals and 60 volunteers and runs 13health centres throughout Italy, includ-ing six centres for diagnosis and treat-ment of diabetes in Lazio and Apulia,and three dental clinics in Naples. In 2017, the annual Italian summercamp for young disabled took place atPorto Sant’Elpidio in the Marche, in co-operation with the three Italian GrandPriories, the Italian Association and CI-SOM, with a contingent of 85 volun-teers and 47 guests. In 2018, 150 youngparticipated in the summer camp inPadua. The three Grand Priories undertakemany aid activities in their regions, in-cluding distributing food to the home-less, visiting the lonely and infirm

▲ 4,000 volunteers divided into 80 units form the Ambulance Corps in Ireland

The Italian Military Corps of the OrderThe Order of Malta’s Military Corps, founded in 1876, are permanentauxiliaries of the Italian army. The Corps carries out independent oper-ations in the healthcare, first-aid and civil defence fields. It has been in the front line in dramatic scenarios such as the Calabria-Sicily earthquake of 1908, the Po Valley floods of 1951, the Belice earth-quake of 1968, the Friuli earthquake of 1976, the Irpinia earthquake of1980 and in San Giuliano di Puglia in 2002 and the Abruzzo in 2009 andin the Marche earthquakes of 2016. Since 2004, some of the Military Corps’ medical officers have been at-tached to the medical units following the Italian Armed Forces in theBalkans under the Ministry of Defence. They have also offered develop-ment help in Somalia and in Afghanistan, with donations of sewing ma-chines, paediatric hospital beds and sports items to help the fightagainst the ‘child soldier’ menace.

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housebound, caring for the victims ofthe natural catastrophes which oftenstrike the peninsula.

Latvia

Twice a year at Christmas and Easter,and in cooperation with the Riga RotaryClub, the Embassy of the Order inLatvia takes part in the distribution ofsecond hand clothes coming from Ger-many to Riga. Malteser Hilfsdienst hasbeen supporting the Embassy’s workwith the needy since 2007. A soupkitchen, first set up in Riga in 2013, wasresumed in 2017.

Lithuania

The Order’s relief service in Lithuania,Maltos Ordino Pagalbos Tarnyba(MOPT), founded in 1991, has 1,500 vol-unteers in 44 towns across the countryand a raft of projects to help the needy.A bilateral cooperation agreement be-

tween the Order and Lithuania, signedin 2017, assures further social and hu-manitarian support. Also in 2017, the25th anniversary of bilateral diplomaticrelations was celebrated. In 2017, the oldest project - Meals onWheels for seniors - saw 151,000 mealsdelivered to 613 beneficiaries in 22towns. A ‘Home care at home’ projectinvolves 400 volunteers who regularlyvisit lonely sick elderly, almost 1,800 in2017. Senior clubs in four towns bringcompany for over a hundred lonely eld-erly. Every year, MOPT organises Easterand Christmas treats and events aswell as fundraisers – benefitting 2,600at home and in hospitals in 35 towns.Their ‘Malteser Soup’ campaign eachwinter – now in its 12th year- is an ef-fective fundraiser for their projects. In 13 towns, the Service manages daycare centres for children, five days aweek, with two more centres opened in2018. The centres are helped by over100 volunteers. Two young people’s

centres in local communities work with120 younsters.Two new, highly successful initiativesare ‘Let’s go’, launched in Vilnius in2014, which provides transport for thedisabled – 996 people benefitted in2017 and 21,879 km were covered; anda rehabilitation summer camp inKlaipeda for 18 young wheel chairusers with life-changing injuries, ‘Moveit!’ which has attracted happy partici-pants since 2015. The Service also offers first aid trainingprogrammes in schools (230 pupilsfrom 22 schools in 2017). The Malteser Youth group brings to-gether over 500 young volunteers whorun summer camps and educationalprogrammes in seven centres.There’s also a three-year joint projectwith the Lithuanian Jewish community‘Righteous among the Nations’ tothank those who risked their lives tohelp Jews in World War Two. The proj-ect, started in April 2016, aims to pro-

The Italian Rescue Corps of the Order of Malta (CISOM)The Rescue Corps has 4,882 volunteers (3,996 general volunteers and rescuers, 458 doctors, 300 nurses, 55 psy-chologists, 37 pharmacists and 36 priests in 143 groups). The organisation’s field of operation is civil protection andemergency activities throughout Italy; it also participates in international humanitarian operations. Since 2008 CISOM has provided emergency aid to immigrants in boats in the Strait of Sicily, working together withthe ships of the Italian Coast Guard and of the Guardia di Finanza. In 2016 CISOM carried out SAR (Search and Res-cue) activities in the Strait of Sicily, assisting 31,462 people. In 2017, CISOM trained the Libyan Navy and Coast Guardin the rescue techniques, with more scheduled in 2018.Devastating earthquakes hit central Italy in summer 2016. CISOM provided assistance to over 2,000 people in Lazio,the Marche, Umbria and Abruzzo, and worked with 750 volunteers over five months (164 days and over 5,000 work-ing hours) who at times served over 600 meals a day. The volunteer teams also included psychologists who providedcounselling to victims. In the freezing winters of 2016 and 17, in Milan, Turin, Siena, Pinerolo, Rome, Catania and Naples teams of volun-teers provided hundreds of homeless with blankets, food and basic goods. Assistance and welcome services in the Casa del Pellegrino at the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Pompei have beenoperating since 2013, a cooperation between the Grand Priory of Naples and CISOM’s volunteers, aiding hundredsof pilgrims - 19,500 arrived in 2016.During the Jubilee of Mercy from the start on 8 December 2015 until its end in November 2016, volunteers from thethree Italian Grand Priories, the Italian Association and CISOM were present in St. Peter’s Square with a first aidmedical post and 151 rescue teams, as well as giving service in the other three basilicas.A summer (2017) first aid post was set up on Asinara Island, Sardinia, in collaboration with local authorities and theCoast Guard, with 22 volunteers. From July till the end of September they carried out 160 interventions. The LjubljuProject – organising a summer seaside holiday for 10 Beylarusian children – was in 2017 extended to include 10children from earthquake-affected Umbria.


vide material support through debitcards to buy medicines and food andpsychological assistance to thosewhose bravery helped so many of theirfellow citizens. In 2017, the President of Lithuania de-clared that ‘The Sovereign Order ofMalta has become an integral part of asafer Lithuania.’

Luxembourg

Ordre de Malte Luxembourg, whichcelebrated fifty years of service to soci-ety’s most deprived in June 2017, hasfocussed recently on a Sunday break-fast kitchen for the homeless (the‘Cathedral Steps’project, first set up byOrdre de Malte France), operatingsince autumn 2016, and on communitycare for the elderly and lonely, withhome visits, excursions, and accompa-nying to hospital appointments. In ad-dition, Café Malte, set up in spring 2015as a meeting centre for the elderly and

lonely, and run by a group of volun-teers, is proving very popular. TheMeals on Wheels service, operating forover 40 years, continues to provide hotfood to the elderly and sick, preparingover 1,000 meals annually. With more and more refugees arrivingin the country, Ordre de Malte Luxem-bourg contributes support to thehomes for refugees managed by Cari-tas, by distributing basic hygiene kits,with 1,000 distributed in 2017. A newinitiative is visits to refugee centreswith a mobile library of books in sever-al languages.

North Macedonia

The Sovereign Order’s Embassy in Ma-cedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of)continues its support for the DemirKapija Institute for Mentally and Physi-cally Disabled adults and children, withmedicines, medical supplies and food.In 2016 the Embassy was awarded the

Golden Plaque by the Macedonian gov-ernment for the work it has carried outin aid of this institution. New equip-ment has also been donated by the Or-der’s Swiss Association. Additionally, atraining programme sends local nurs-es for specialist training in a Britishpsychiatric hospital. The Embassy’sspecial humanitarian activities have fo-cused on children orphaned in the re-cent violent conflicts in the region, bysupporting the Sisters of Mother Tere-sa and SOS Children Villages.

Malta

In 2016 the Grand Magistry donated amobile clinic and minivan for therefugee service of the Ministry of Inter-nal Affairs and made a special donationfor the purchase and training of guidedogs for the blind. Maltese Association members and vol-unteers run a range of activities: an an-nual Christmas party for 300 orphansand disadvantaged young, packagingand distribution of 120 Christmas ham-pers to those in need; a summer picnicin the Verdala Castle gardens for 300elderly from residential homes; train-ing guide dogs for the blind is ongoing;meals on wheels brings 98,000 mealsannually to housebound patients. TheGozo Volunteer Group, as well as theirmain activities - transporting wheel-chair patients to hospital and outingsfor the elderly - gives English languagelessons to refugees and distributesfood to families in need every month.New activities: a refreshments trolleyservice for patients at the Sir AnthonyMamo Oncology Centre, launched in2016; a prison ministry project foryoung foreign inmates at the CorradinoCorrectional Facility, with regular vis-its, and psychological support as theyenter rehabilitation programmes. TheOrder organises an annual Thanksgiv-ing Supper and a summer barbeque forall inmates at the Young Persons Of-fenders Unit in Mtahleb; and a forth-coming project to provide shelter and▲ The Italian Relief Corps runs many activities, including distribution of food for the destitute

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mentoring for small numbers of home-less youths. A team of members andvolunteers have accompanied guests tothe Order’s International Camps eachyear – 2016, 2017, 2018.

Moldova

In June 2014 the Order’s Ambassador toMoldova opened a soup-kitchen in thebasement of the Cathedral of Chisinauin cooperation with the Social Centre‘Casa Providentie’. Since then the soup-kitchen has provided over 19,000 sub-stantial warm meals to elderly poor. AtChristmas each year since 2015 theEmbassy distributed hampers of non-perishable foods, and fruit to 170 elder-ly people. 30 children received basketsof toys, school items and sweets – anactivity undertaken every Christmas.

Monaco

In the Principality of Monaco, the Or-der’s Monegasque Association organis-es yearly collections on World LeprosyDay, benefitting the Order’s leprosy or-ganisation, CIOMAL, for the continua-tion of its projects in Asia and South

America. At home, the Association or-ganises several successful Christmasluncheons every year, preceded by aMass, for the 250 residents of the Rési-dence du Cap Fleuri and other Monacohomes for senior residents. Throughthe renewal of a 3-year partnershipagreement, the Association also pur-sues actively its support for the MonacoCardiac Centre for major heart surgeryoperations for young children.

Montenegro

The Sovereign Order’s Ambassador toMontenegro facilitated a donation ofmedical equipment sent by the GrandPriory of Lombardy and Venice to theMinistry of Health in the country’s cap-ital, Podgorica. The Order of Malta hasset up a project enabling Montenegrincardiologists to participate in the up-dating seminars on cardiovasculartechniques in Naples.

Netherlands

The Netherlands Association supportsthe Johannes Hospitium (Hospice of St.John) in Vleuten, founded in 1991 and

managed by the Association togetherwith the Johanniter Orden). The hospiceoffers a home and spiritual support toterminal patients and is staffed by pro-fessional and voluntary carers. A medical facility in central Amster-dam, in cooperation with the JohanniterOrder and operated by the KruispostFoundation and including Order volun-teers, provides primary medical care tothe uninsured and those with mentalhealth issues, and to refugees.The Association organises an annualsummer camp for young disabled – the21st took place in 2018 in Imminkhoeveim Lemele, for 18 volunteers and 10guests. Volunteer teams and guests al-so took part in the International Sum-mer Camp for Young Disabled in Krakowin 2016, Salzburg in 2017, HampshireGB in 2018. A group of young volunteershave annually participated in the sum-mer camp at Chabrouh, Lebanon.

Poland

World Youth Day 2016, held in Krakow,was attended by over one and a halfmillion young who were addressed bythe Pope. The day was strongly sup-ported by the Order’s European Associ-ations and first aid services at the ma-jor events. There were 500 volunteers(medical and paramedical personneland volunteers), under the leadershipof the Polish Association, 30 ambu-lances (out of a total of 134 deployed)and 30 logistics vehicles from fivecountries. 10 sectors out of 108 weremanned by Order volunteers. This was followed by hosting the Or-der’s 33rd International Youth Camp,attended by 200 disabled guests and300 volunteers from 24 countries. TheOrder’s Polish Relief Organisation(Maltanska Sluzba Medyczna – PomocMaltańska) supported the event with 30doctors and paramedics. Activities around the country includesix assistance centres for the disabled(Poznań, Kraków, Katowice, Radom,Olsztyn, Warszawa); 12 health centres;

▲ Lineup of Order ambulances – medical support for World Youth Day in Krakow, 2016


a hospital which provides medical careto over 300 patients each year; two so-cial care centres; two centres of occu-pational therapy for the disabled, with2,000 people in permanent care, 7,000people in temporary care and 1,000volunteers.The ‘Little Malta’ programme for youngpeople trains them in specific activitiesto prepare them to assist people withmental and physical disabilities.Abroad, in cooperation with the Order’sRelief Corps in Ukraine, the Polish Re-lief Organisation provides training andequipment to volunteers to develop arescue system with local teams.

Portugal

The hospitaller activities of the Order’sAssociation in Portugal are run byObras Portuguesas da Ordem de Malta(OHPOM) and by the Fundação FreiManuel Pinto de Fonseca (FFMPF). The work of ‘Obras’ is focussed athome on the medical and logisticswork of volunteers who assist pilgrimsand support the poor, especially Fati-ma pilgrims, with medical care, mealsand shelter; and on a range of activities- in Lisbon, Oporto and other cities, in-cluding hospices in Lisbon, Gavião,Crato Carnide and Queiriga, benefitting300 patients, attended by 50 volun-teers; an institution for the handi-capped in Lisbon where volunteersprovide medical assistance and medi-cines; social, religious and spiritual as-sistance for 70 inmates by 14 volun-teers in two state prisons in Caxias andCarregueira; clinical and medical sup-port for patients of the Misericordia ofElvas hospital; and work with the ‘ An-jos Amigos - Friendly Angels’ homelessprogramme in Oporto.In 2016, the Association initiated a sim-ple system that allows donations to bemade to the Order of Malta from anyATM machine in Portugal.The Association supports Order proj-ects in many Portuguese-speakingcountries.

Romania

The Order’s relief organisation in Ro-mania, Serviciul de Ajutor Maltez înRomânia (SAMR), is present in 26 loca-tions with 16 active branches in Tran-sylvania and one in Bucharest. Thereare 1,000 volunteers (400 of whom aremembers of the Romania MalteserYouth) and 100 employees. At presentthe organisation runs over 100 socialprojects for over 4,000 beneficiariesevery year.The projects focus on helping children:(the Maltese kindergarten in Cluj cares

for 22 young disabled, an after schoolprogramme to integrate vulnerablechildren runs in Aiud, a day centre inBlaj cares for disabled children). Thereis care for the elderly (for 20 in St.John’s Home, Timisoara) and for thedisabled (a home for 35 residents inDorobanti), plus meals on wheels forthe elderly in Cluj and Timisoara, ben-efitting 185 regulars. Other important activities includemedical assistance, youth work anddisaster emergency relief. An important initiative started in 2016is the development of programmes for

▲ Regular first-aid courses for volunteers in the Serviciul de Ajutor Maltez, Romania: 1,000work in 100 projects in 26 locations

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Roma people in Pauleasca, in SatuMare (educating Roma children) andTransylvania (a riding school for younggypsies, aligned to a social integrationprogramme). And in Pauleasca, a so-cial centre to support returning beg-gars from Salzburg is in the planning,with mentoring and tutoring currentlyprovided in rented accommodation. A special focus is on developing the youthorganisation, Romania Malteser Youth.

Russian Federation

The Malteser Relief Service in St.Pe-tersburg, Russian Federation, whichcelebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016,provides social services for 700 needycitizens every month, working with 17employees and 45 volunteers. TheirGerman partner is Malteser Hilfsdi-enst. The St Petersburg organisationdistributes hot meals to 250 needy anddisabled every day, around 49,500meals a year, as well as providingclothing and books. In 2016, a new ini-tiative ‘Mother and Child’ helps desti-tute families with small children, pro-viding social workers and support serv-ices. A mobile shelter houses 15 dis-abled and provides shelter and supportto 30 homeless every night. In 2016,over half of the 44 sheltered residentswere found state shelters, hospitals orhosting relatives. Projects for returnees- ‘Transit’ and ‘The Way Home’ - played

an important part in homelessness pre-vention by safely transporting peoplewithout documents or funds from St.Petersburg to other cities, according totheir last official registration. During2016, 180 people were transferred, in-cluding Russians and people from 10other countries.The Malteser Relief Service in Moscowhas been operating since 1994. Itseight employees and 30 volunteerslook after 3,000 registered people inneed, including 120 bedridden pa-tients. In 2016 the Moscow service pro-vided 70,000 hours of help and distrib-uted humanitarian aid on behalf ofMoscow institutions, as they are officialpartners of the 2018 social programmefor the city. Ongoing social pro-grammes include accompanying can-cer patients to and from treatment,caring for children when mothers areworking, free first aid courses (16 hrseach), pre-partum courses, and run-ning 330 events in their social centre.

Scandinavia

The Scandinavian Association of theOrder covers the five countries: Den-mark, Finland, Iceland, Norway andSweden. Ongoing activities in Skåne,Denmark, focus on visits to the fragileelderly, helping disadvantaged chil-dren in a school in Malmö, and sup-porting migrants and the homeless

with food and financial aid. Paperless migrants were helped in2016 in Finland, and in Iceland there isongoing assistance accompanying theelderly and handicapped to Mass, visit-ing the sick in hospitals and homes,and distributing coats to the homelessin Reykjavik. In Norway, medical care isoffered for paperless immigrants and,together with the Order’s HungarianAssociation, in a camp for handicappedchildren in Transylvania. In Stockholmmembers regularly visit residents inJosephinahemmet, a Catholic hospice,and inmates in a detention facility.

Serbia

Each winter from 2016 onward, theEmbassy of the Order in Serbia has or-ganised the ‘A hot meal in winter’ cam-paign in Aleksinac and Šabac, jointlywith Caritas. To support recently ar-rived refugees, in February 2016, 27pallets of clothing and toys and 10 pal-lets of baby food from Malteser Hilfsdi-enst were distributed to refugees inPresevo.The Order’s Embassy runs the verysuccessful ‘Make a wish’ annual pro-gramme in Sremcica and Izvor, whereparticipants nominate the greatestneed in their local community. This hasattracted generous donations ofclothes for children and adults, a fullyequipped ambulance medical equip-ment, an ECG machine, and a minibus.In June 2016 Belgrade Newsweek be-came a media partner of ‘Make a wish’. In 2017, ‘Make a Wish in 2017’ centredits support on children from poor fam-ilies who need vital surgical interven-tions and treatment. The programmeenables children with particularly diffi-cult diseases to be operated on in Ser-bia by specialised Italian surgeons. As part of the focus on support for sickchildren, in which the Order partici-pates, the construction of a centre forchildren receiving day care cancertreatment at the oncology hospital isunderway in Belgrade.

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The riding project for Roma children in KorospatakIn a small Transylvanian village, a social miracle has occurred: the thou-sand Roma, or gypsies, living on its edge were not integrated in the localsociety. Their life was hard, and socially restricted. Now, with the develop-ment of a hugely successful riding school for their youngsters by AnnaTalnoky, wife of the Minister Counsellor of the Order’s Embassy, and anexpert horsewoman - the project itself inspired by the Order’s Ambas-sador to the Roma, Franz Salm - the village is integrating, the Roma areriding, performing spectacular gymnastics on horseback – and are goingto school. The possibilities for their future are now way beyond what theycould have imagined. As with many things, the project was rooted in de-veloping skills and confidence and applying them to the rest of the chil-dren’s lives. They are now so good that they take place in competitions.


Slovakia

The young, very active auxiliary organi-sation of the Order in Slovakia, Mal-teser Aid Slovakia (MAS), is headquar-tered in Bratislava and works in four lo-cations - Bratislava, Nitra, Topolčanyand Eastern Slovakia, with 21 membersof the Order and 57 volunteers.Nationwide activities included in 2016:organisation and health care during thenational pilgrimage to Sastin, help forthe disabled at the National Air Show,bringing 94 pilgrims (68 volunteers ac-companying 27 malades) to Lourdes,and collaborating in World Youth Day inKrakow in July.Two Roma projects with sponsor sup-port help over 100 children attendingpre-school education every day in Ole-jnokov near Kosice, and Orechov dvornear Nitra.Action in Bratislava covers daily mealson wheels for 50-60 elderly (over 15,000meals delivered to homes annually), or-ganises food collections for a nightshelter for the homeless, providesmedical care during the Corpus Christiprocession and on several other massevents, and supervises a soup kitchenfor 50-80 homeless in the winter. In Nitra, a first aid tent during bigevents is organised, and donations ofmedicines and reconditioned equip-ment for seniors, visits and gifts to fe-male prisoners, and volunteering at theSt. Bernadette hospice.In Topolčany, there is food distributionfor the poor in winter, delivery and stor-ing of medical equipment. In Trenčìnthere is a service in winter night shelterfor 25-40 homeless, plus supportthroughout the year, and running a so-cial clothing warehouse. In eastern Slo-vakia (Kezmarok, Kosice), activities in-clude donations of reconditioned med-ical equipment to hospitals and hos-pices, meals and clothes collection forthe homeless and the poor, food collec-tion for poor children during the holi-days, visits to the elderly in need inPečovská Nová Ves, and education for

Roma children in Orechov Dvor (50/day).In Dobova, Slovenia, aid in 2016 for therefugee camp which is on the Sloven-ian-Croatian border was organised be-tween the Slovakian auxiliary service,the University of St. Elizabeth and theSlovenian Association of the Order, witha medical tent (field hospital), healthservices and distribution of food, andclothing and bedding for a great num-ber of refugees (up to 3,000 at times).

Slovenia

The Slovenian Association of the Orderand its auxiliary organisation, Order ofMalta Aid Slovenia (OMAS), undertookactivities around the country in 2016and 2017.A defibrillator was donated to theCathedral Parish in Ljubjana, with oth-ers going to the pilgrim centres in Sve-ta Gora, Zaplaz and Ptujska Gora.The First Aid Assistance Service waslaunched at the shrine of Sveta Goraand served from May to October 2016

and for the first time, first aid was alsoprovided at Gornji Grad and Zaplaz. Apartnership agreement was signed withSlovenia’s Civil Protection and DisasterRelief and the first dozen dehumidifierswere prepared for relief interventions.A special initiative ‘Medical and otherassistance to the Roma people’ is pro-viding water and electricity to Romacommunities in Brezje and Žabjek. In a cooperation project between theOrder’s organisations in Slovakia andSlovenia, in 2016 eight cubic meters ofgoods (sleeping bags and clothes) weretransported and distributed in Slovenia.

Spain

The Order’s Association in Spain, oneof the oldest, is very active in manySpanish cities in a range of activities,from soup kitchens to horticultural andequine therapy, to outings, to visits tothe elderly, to summer holidays foryoung disabled.In Madrid, two soup kitchens care for

▲ In Eastern Europe, regular deliveries of supplies to impoverished local villages are a lifeline

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those in need: the ‘Santa Micaela’serves 350 people a day totalling over150,000 meals each year – reflecting anincrease in Spain’s new poor; ‘Virgen dela Candelaria’ serves 150 meals daily toimmigrants, poor families and the eld-erly; ‘San Juan Bautista’ newly openedin 2016, feeds 200 a day. In 2017, thecentre was extended to include a healthunit, showers and washing machinesand a clothing distribution centre.Added to these is ‘Desayunos deCuaresma’ in Atocha, which brings thehomeless food and company during the40 days of Easter. A new project offerssoup and sandwiches to the homelessat night, twice a week; in another, 20volunteers visit lonely elderly - ‘Com-paneros de Malta’. A soup kitchen in Seville, the ‘San Juande Acre,’ has been operating since2011, offering a daily meal for 200 peo-ple, with 200 volunteers working in dai-ly shifts of 20-25.The Barcelona Delegation’s pro-gramme ‘Food collecting and delivery’continues to collect food for severalsoup kitchens and welfare centres. Thelocal Delegation in Baleares, together

with volunteers, collects and distrib-utes food in an assistance centre forthe elderly run by the Congregación deHermanitas de los Pobres. A weeklysoup kitchen serves meals to 150. InValencia, the Delegation continues its‘6X1’ project – 300 needy families re-ceive a 12 kg bag of food every month.The Spanish Association also supportsthe ‘San Juan Bautista’ home for 84elderly outside Madrid; three projectsfor the elderly in Valencia, and inBarcelona, work with Fundaciòn Alba’shome for elderly, where social and cul-tural activities are created, and med-ical services are provided. A project inPamplona attends to retired priests. Special projects for young disabled in-clude a micro finance project in Valen-cia, which teaches them how to growplants and herbs; an annual summercamp for 30 disabled young in Andalu-cia, and in Castilla, through the Fun-daciòn Götze, and in Madrid volunteerswho take disabled children on week-end outings. The Order opened a new hostel for pil-grims in the heart of the Camino deSantiago, in the town of Villalcázar de

Sirga in mid 2017. It has capacity for 30pilgrims, four medicos and at least fivepeople with motor disabilities; a firstaid stand in the pilgrimage city itselfoperates in high summer.Abroad, there is support for a formerleprosy colony in Equatorial Guinea andfor a medical centre for haemodialysisand patients in El Alto, Peru and sup-port for the very poor in the ‘NuestraSenora de Lourdes’ medical centre inChiclayo. In Cuba volunteers work in ayoung disabled summer camp in theCienfuegos province. Every year, a young volunteer contin-gent joins the Order’s summer campfor the disabled in Chabrouh, Lebanon.

Switzerland

The Order’s Association in Switzerlandruns many activities, together with theSwiss Association’s relief organisation- Service Hospitalier de l’Ordre deMalte en Suisse (SHOMS). The servicenumbers 800 active members in 14 re-gions plus a boy scouts unit and onefor young people. In addition, 350 sup-porters contribute with financial dona-tions. In 2016 the ‘Help and AssistanceFoundation’ sent 131 trucks and con-tainers (about 2,100 tons) of humani-tarian help to different countries. In2017, 129 semi-trailers and maritimecontainers carried 2,100 tons of goods,to the value of 18 million Swiss francs,to countries in need, with the volun-teers – members of the Order andfriends - working 4,500 hours.Every month, in collaboration with theBoat Association of Geneva, a freebreakfast for 100-200 homeless is of-fered. The Romande Delegation continuessupport for the ‘Une chance, un cœur’Foundation in Lausanne, which sup-ports children from third world coun-tries for heart surgery in Switzerland.In Fribourg a riding programme caresfor 16 disabled young with mentalhandicaps or autism. Abroad, the Swiss Association contin-

▲ Every Eastertide, the Malteser Relief Service in Lviv, Ukraine, prepares hundreds of Easterbaskets for those in need


ues to give financial support to the Or-der’s Holy Family Hospital, Bethlehemand to the Pro Tantur Foundation(opened in 2017) in Jerusalem. Young volunteers participate in theLebanese Chabrouh camp for the dis-abled every summer. They have addeda Swiss camp at Sourat, together witha group of ‘Kitchen Mommies’, andtake part in the Order’s InternationalSummer Camp for Young Disabled.

Ukraine

The Order of Malta Relief Organisation(Maltijska Slushba Dopomohy - MSD)in Ukraine, established with the sup-port of the German Malteser Hilfsdi-enst in Lviv in 1993, has regionalbranches in Ivano-Frankivsk, Beregovoand Kiev, and projects in seven regions:Mariupol, Artemivsk, Severodonetsk,Starobilk, Kramatorks, Boryspil andKiev. Working with a small staff is ateam of 230 volunteers. The organisation’s range of activitiescontinues to grow in response to theneeds of the sick and the very poor.

Projects include soup kitchens, assis-tance for the elderly, help for disadvan-taged children and those in orphan-ages, support for the handicapped, andsummer camps. In Beregovo, for ex-ample, a meals on wheels project runsevery day; a kindergarten project feedsundernourished children and also sup-ports the buildings; visits to the house-bound elderly infirm are constant. Since 2015, first aid training forschools and the general public hasbeen offered, plus training of 60 train-ers, with the support of the Order’sPolish Relief Organisation.In Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk the Or-der’s international relief service, Mal-teser International, is providing psy-chosocial help to local populations andan estimated 4,200 internally displacedpersons who have fled from the east ofthe country. In September 2017, the 3rd annualMaltese manoeuvers of volunteer res-cuers took place in Kamyanets-Podil-sky, with 17 Ukrainian and Polishteams from nine cities testing theirskills in practice. Every year, the num-

ber of cities from which rescuers enrolincreases. The event is part of the ‘De-velopment of the voluntary medicalrescue service in Ukraine’, supportedby the Polish Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs, the Order’s Ukraine Relief Serv-ice and the Polish Order of Malta. Amobile dental clinic is in the planning.

Vatican

The First Aid Post in St Peter’s Square,Vatican City, is maintained throughoutthe year by the Grand Magistry of theOrder and staffed by 82 regular Ordervolunteers. The service runs 7/7, onboth sides of the square. In 2017 theservice provided over 700 treatments.With the acquisition of a small Order ofMalta ambulance, the reaction time fora crisis now averages 1.15 minutes. AnAgreement with the American HeartFoundation has meant the service isable to provide regular training for vol-unteer instructors in first aid.From April 2018 first aid services inSan Paolo Fuori le Mura and San Gio-vanni in Laterano have been added.

▲ The First Aid Post operates every day on both sides of St Peter’s Square

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middleeast

through the provision of vital

medical and humanitarian aid.

Medical facilities assist the growing

displaced population in Iraq.

Elsewhere in the region, the Order

continues as a significant provider

of socio-health services for the poor

and needy, with a special focus in

Lebanon, and also runs the Holy

Family Hospital in Bethlehem.

The Order of Malta continues to

respond to the conflict in Syria,

been working in the area in coopera-tion with the Directorate of Health inDohuk (aiding 26,000 IDPs) and localpartner organisation, the Al MustaqbalFoundation (AMF) in Erbil, providingdrugs and medical supplies for IDPsliving outside the camps in the city, andvulnerable local host communities. Aswell, three mobile medical teams areon the ground, distributing hygiene kitsto 500 families in great need and man-aging medical facilities at Camp Kadia

(aiding 15,000 IDPs) and Camp BerseviII (serving 10,000, mainly Yazidis).Emergency aid is particularly neededfor Christians and Yazidis, and for thevery young and the very old.In July 2017 over 950,000 internally dis-placed had fled from the regions of TalAfar and Tel Kaif, in Nineveh, northernIraq, surviving in camps and small im-poverished communities. The Order’s relief agency, with part-ners, distributed relief packages tomeet critical basic needs (tarpaulins,mattresses, bedsheets, kitchen set,solar lantern, jerrycan and hygiene ar-ticles). The ongoing project is aimed atsupporting those falling through thecracks and into chronic poverty and ex-treme vulnerability. With the liberation of Mosul in 2017, itscitizens began to return gradually, butthe situation is precarious, both med-ically and socially. Malteser Interna-tional has distributed relief goods andis gradually rebuilding healthcare ca-pacities and offering psychosocial sup-port to the traumatised. They will in-tensify their work in training and in-come generation and have launched‘Cash for Work’ programmes, withmany women participating in coursespromoting good hygiene, becomingteachers and helping their communi-ties to respect practices that can pre-vent epidemics.

Iraq

The Order’s Malteser International hasbeen working in Iraq since 2004, withprojects in the Kurdish autonomousregion in the north. Its most recentwork has been focussed on aid for thecountry’s IDPs.Since the crisis of 2014, around 3.4million people have been displaced.Many escaped into Kurdistan, to Dohukand Erbil. Malteser International has

▲ A small Syrian refugee is attended to in the Order’s mobile medical clinic in north Lebanon

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SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - MIDDLE EAST

Jordan

The Order’s Embassy in Jordan sup-ports the Italian Hospital of Karak andis liaising with the Bambino Gesù Hos-pital, Rome, in supporting the KarakHospital with personnel and in raisingthe professional level of the physicians. Through a partner, the Embassy issupporting the refugee camps for Syri-ans escaping war, with medical tech-nology.

Lebanon

With almost 1.3 million Syrians whohave now fled to Lebanon, and the ar-rival of Iraqi refugees, medical and so-cial care in the country is criticallystretched. A key problem for therefugees is lack of opportunity to earna living. The Order’s Association in Lebanonmanages 9 primary healthcare centres(all specialisations), totalling 125,000consultations per year. Together withsupport from the Order’s internationalrelief service, Malteser International,they operate four mobile medical clin-ics for Syrian refugees and Lebanese inneed (in Siddikine, Ain Ebel, WadiKhaled-Akkar and Kefraya). The cen-tres, which are located at Kobayat,Khaldiyeh, Barqa, Kefraya, ZoukMikael, Ain El Remmaneh, Roum, Mar-jeyoun, Siddikine and Yaroun, provide39,000 consultations a year. In theBhannes Palsy Centre, Beirut, the Or-der cares for 95 children with cerebralpalsy, with 64 staff. There are 24 summer and wintercamps at the Chabrouh Centre for 609disabled guests, with the help of 450international and 305 Lebanese volun-teers. For the elderly in rural areas, wherethe exodus of the young for jobs in thecities brings loneliness, there are threeday care centres and five ‘warmhomes’, bringing companionship andsocial activities. They cater for 55 vil-lages with a total of 1,168 elderly, for

whom over 30,000 hot meals are pre-pared each year.Prison ministry includes assistance to143 inmates in four prisons, with med-icines, hygiene items, blankets,clothes, gifts. With partners, the Association has pro-vided social and medical assistance toSyrian/Iraqi refugees since 2011, aid-ing around 25,000 families (c 100,000people) in north Lebanon, the BekaaValley, Wadi Khaled (with Malteser In-ternational) and Kefraya (with thePierre Fabre Foundation).The Order’s volunteer youth organisa-tion ‘The Youth’ runs a number ofsupport programmes: in 2016, 150Lebanese volunteers made a numberof visits to Deir el Salib (psychiatrichospital) and to Deir el Kamar, and 300visits to 70 elderly patients. Every yearthe young volunteers work with under-privileged children in two camps inChabrouh, three during weekends, and

organise the giving of gifts and cele-brations for 105 disabled beneficiaries.The organisation attends the Order’sannual International Youth Camp in Eu-rope – in 2017 they brought a group of

▲ Malteser International mobile medical teams provide medical aid to IDPs in camps aroundErbil, Iraq

Inter-religious aid projects The Order of Malta Lebanoncooperates with LebaneseIslamic institutions in thesocio-medical domain:At Dar El Fatwa (Sunni Mus-lims) in Beirut and the mo-bile clinic in Akkar and WadiKhaled in north Lebanon;the Imam el Sadr Founda-tion (Shiite Muslims) for 29years in Siddikine; theSheikh Abou Hassan ArefHalawi Foundation (Druze)in various primary healthcare centres.

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21 guests and volunteers.The Centre Al-Fadi Chabrouh summercamp for the disabled is organised withand by young volunteers from the Or-der’s youth organisations in France,Germany, Great Britain, the Nether-lands, Spain and Switzerland, as wellas Lebanon. The guests come fromspecialised homes and psychiatrichospitals across Lebanon. The aim is tobring joy, love and happiness to thephysically and mentally challengedguests.

Palestine

In Palestine, the Holy Family Hospital,run by the Order since 1990, continuesto provide the only first class materni-ty hospital care in the region, wherean average of 4,000 babies are bornannually. Every year 23,000 consulta-tions for women and children takeplace at the hospital or at the outreachclinics. Patients are asked to pay whenthey can afford it, and their contribu-tions cover 45% of the running costs.

In 2017 an air conditioned mobile vanwhich seats five was added to the mo-bile clinic effort, funded by the Order’sAmerican Association. It operates inRaishayda refugee camp, a 45 minutedrive from Bethlehem, and visits twolocations in the village at the sametime each week, providing consistentfollowup for the women from the sur-rounding villages. The teams aremade up of a driver, a nurse, a gynae-cologist and a paediatrician.The hospital also offers a diabetes clin-ic (opened in 2010) and has run a ‘WellWoman Programme’ since 2012, tar-geting women aged 45 and over.A Dignity Loan programme launched in2013 in the Salfit region by the Order’sRepresentative Office to Palestine con-tinues to give microeconomic loans tolocal small businesses, creating jobsand improving economic outcomes. Inconsultation with local communitypartners, the interest-free loans typi-cally have a repayment period of 1-3

▲ The Order’s Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem offers the only neonatal intensive care unit for newborns in the region

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Lebanon: the Caravan programmeAn international programme – Caravan – runs for 10 months each year,attracting young volunteers from various countries. The jointLebanese/German project offers a carefully planned programme, em-phasising love, coexistence and human dignity. The students work withhandicapped patients, visit refugee camps, fundraise and spend twodays a week at the Bhannes Palsy Centre, in addition to following anacademic programme which includes courses in the Arabic languageand the history of the region.

SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD - MIDDLE EAST

years, the recipients are guided andmentored, and repayments are chan-nelled into making further loans in thesame community. A recent successfulexample is the ‘Olive Oil Project’, withthe ecologically grown oil from ancientRumi olive trees which are manuallyharvested, creating employment for 50in its first year (2015/16). Proceedsfrom the oil will support the DignityLoan Programme.

Syria

The civil war in Syria has led to theworst refugee crisis in recent history.6.3 million have been internally dis-placed, 5.2 million have fled the coun-try, many more millions require hu-manitarian assistance (OCHA, August2017). Malteser International has been work-ing to provide aid to the people of Syriasince 2012. Millions in the country areeither unable or unwilling to leave, andthese displaced are the focus of itswork, with Turkish and Syrian part-ners, to organise and support cross-border medical aid projects. The security situation in Syria makesworking there very difficult, and thestaff of the partner organisation live inthe shadow of constant danger. In theAleppo region, they operate two basichealth care centres in refugee camps,two mobile clinics, two ambulancesand a chldren’s hospital in Bab alSalam, as well as managing the recon-struction and operation of four basichealth care facilities in former ISstrong holds (Azaz, Jarablus, Al Bab). Just three kilometres from the Syrianborder, on the Turkish side, MalteserInternational is working with partnerorganisation the International BlueCrescent to assist Syrian refugees.

Turkey

In Kilis, Turkey, together with a localpartner organisation, Malteser Inter-national is concentrating on the med-

ical psychosocial care of Syrianrefugees, and education for theiryoung. The organisation is running arehabilitation hospital just three kilo-metres from the Syrian border. In Kiliscity centre, a community centre hasbeen set up to provide orientation andpsychosocial support for the refugeesin the urban context. Several trainingprogrammes, especially languagecourses, are provided to facilitate theintegration of the Syrian refugees inTurkey. Malteser International is also support-

ing two schools for Syrian refugee chil-dren to ensure their education – half ofthe 2.7 million Syrian refugees regis-tered in Turkey are children. The or-ganisation supports educational cen-tres in Istanbul and in Kahraman-maras, southern Turkey, working therewith The Orient Face, a Syrian organi-sation. Refugee students are learningTurkish so that one day they can jointhe Turkish school system. This educa-tional centre has 690 children, withclasses from kindergarten to twelfthgrade.

▲ Medical care and schooling for Syrian refugee children in Kilis promises a better future

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International bodiesCampagne Internationale del’Ordre de Malte contre lalèpre (CIOMAL)Global Fund for ForgottenPeople Malteser International

AfghanistanDiplomatic Mission

AlbaniaDiplomatic MissionMalteser Albania*

AngolaDiplomatic Mission

Antigua and BarbudaDiplomatic Mission

ArmeniaDiplomatic Mission

ArgentinaArgentine AssociationDiplomatic Mission

AustraliaSubpriory of ImmaculateConceptionAustralian Association

AustriaGrand Priory of AustriaDiplomatic Mission

Permanent Observer, UNPermanent Observer, IAEAPermanent Observer, UNIDOPermanent Observer, CTBTOMalteser Hospitaldienst*

BahamasDiplomatic Mission

BelarusDiplomatic Mission

BelgiumBelgian AssociationPermanent Mission,European UnionRepresentative to BelgiumRepresentative, ICMM

BelizeDiplomatic Mission

BeninDiplomatic Mission

BoliviaBolivian AssociationDiplomatic Mission

Bosnia and HerzegovinaDiplomatic Mission

BrazilBrazilian Association of Riode JaneiroSao Paulo and Southern

Brazil AssociationBrasilia and Northern BrazilAssociationDiplomatic Mission

BulgariaDiplomatic Mission

Burkina FasoDiplomatic Mission

CambodiaDiplomatic Mission

CameroonDiplomatic Mission

CanadaCanadian Association

Cape VerdeDiplomatic Mission

Central AfricaDiplomatic Mission

ChadDiplomatic Mission

ChileChilean AssociationDiplomatic MissionFundación Auxilio Maltés*

ColombiaColombian AssociationDiplomatic Mission

ComorosDiplomatic Mission

Congo (Democratic Republic of the)Diplomatic Mission

Congo (Republic of the)Diplomatic Mission

Costa RicaCosta Rica AssociationDiplomatic Mission

Côte d’IvoireDiplomatic Mission

CroatiaDiplomatic MissionUdruga Malteser Hrvatska*

CubaCuban AssociationDiplomatic Mission

CyprusDiplomatic Mission

Czech RepublicGrand Priory of BohemiaDiplomatic MissionMaltézská Pomoc o.p.s.*

Order of Malta organisationsworldwideFor contact details see www.orderofmalta.int/contact

SECTION 6 - CARE THAT REACHES AROUND THE WORLD

127

Dominican RepublicDominican AssociationDiplomatic Mission

EcuadorEcuador Association

EgyptDiplomatic Mission

El SalvadorEl Salvador AssociationDiplomatic MissionRepresentative SICAVANESOM*

Equatorial GuineaDiplomatic Mission

EritreaDiplomatic Mission

EthiopiaDiplomatic MissionPermanent Representative,African Union

FranceFrench AssociationOfficial Representative toFrancePermanent Observer,UNESCOOfficial Representative, OIFPermanent Observer,UNILATRepresentative, Council ofEuropeOrdre de Malte France*

GabonDiplomatic Mission

GeorgiaDiplomatic Mission

GermanySubpriory of St MichaelGerman AssociationDiplomatic Mission

Malteser Hilfsdienst E. V.*

Great BritainGrand Priory of EnglandBritish AssociationOrder of Malta Volunteers*

GrenadaDiplomatic Mission

GuatemalaGuatemalan AssociationDiplomatic Mission

GuineaDiplomatic Mission

Guinea-BissauDiplomatic Mission

GuyanaDiplomatic Mission

HaitiDiplomatic Mission

Holy SeeDiplomatic Mission

HondurasHonduras AssociationDiplomatic MissionCuerpo de voluntarios*

Hong Kong (China)Hong Kong Association

HungaryHungarian AssociationDiplomatic MissionMagyar MaltaiSzeretetszolgalat*

IrelandSubpriory of St OliverPlunkettIrish AssociationOrder of Malta AmbulanceCorps*

ItalyGrand Priory of RomeGrand Priory of Lombardy &VeniceGrand Priory of Naples &SicilyItalian AssociationDiplomatic MissionPermanent Observer, FAOPermanent Observer, WFPPermanent Observer, IFADPermanent Observer,ICCROMRepresentative, IIHLObserver, UNIDROITCorpo Militaredell’Associazione ItalianaCorpo Italiano di Soccorso*

JordanDiplomatic Mission

KazakhstanDiplomatic Mission

KenyaDiplomatic MissionPermanent Observer, UNEP

KiribatiDiplomatic Mission

LatviaDiplomatic Mission

LebanonLebanese AssociationDiplomatic Mission

LiberiaDiplomatic Mission

LiechtensteinDiplomatic Mission

LithuaniaDiplomatic MissionMaltos Ordino PagalbosTarnyba*

LuxembourgRepresentative toLuxembourgOrdre de Malte Luxembourg*

MadagascarDiplomatic Mission

MaliDiplomatic Mission

MaltaMaltese AssociationDiplomatic MissionPermanent Representative,PAMVolunteers of the Order*

Marshall IslandsDiplomatic Mission

MauritaniaDiplomatic Mission

MauritiusDiplomatic Mission

MexicoMexican AssociationVoluntarios Orden De MaltaMexico*

MicronesiaDiplomatic Mission

MoldovaDiplomatic Mission

MonacoMonegasque AssociationDiplomatic Mission

MontenegroDiplomatic Mission

MoroccoDiplomatic Mission

MozambiqueDiplomatic Mission


128

NamibiaDiplomatic Mission

NauruDiplomatic Mission

NetherlandsDutch AssociationOrder of Malta VolunteerCorps*

NicaraguaNicaragua AssociationDiplomatic Mission

NigerDiplomatic Mission

NigeriaRelief Service*

North Macedonia Diplomatic Mission

PanamaPanama AssociationDiplomatic Mission

ParaguayParaguayan AssociationDiplomatic MissionServicio de EmergenciaMalta*

PeruPeruvian AssociationDiplomatic MissionAsociación Malteser Peru*

PhilippinesPhilippines AssociationDiplomatic MissionAuxiliary Corps*

PolandPolish AssociationDiplomatic MissionMaltańska Służba Medyczna*

PortugalPortuguese AssociationDiplomatic MissionOfficial Representative, CPLPCorpo de Voluntários daOrdem de Malta*

RomaniaRomanian AssociationDiplomatic MissionServiciul de Ajutor Maltez*

Russia (Federation of)Diplomatic MissionVolunteer Corps; Moscow, StPetersburg*

Saint LuciaDiplomatic Mission

Saint Vincent and theGrenadinesDiplomatic Mission

San MarinoDiplomatic Mission

Sao Tome and PrincipeDiplomatic Mission

SenegalSenegalese AssociationDiplomatic Mission

SerbiaDiplomatic Mission

SeychellesDiplomatic Mission

Sierra LeoneDiplomatic Mission

SingaporeSingapore Association

SlovakiaDiplomatic MissionOrganizácia MaltézskaPomoc Slovensko*

SloveniaSlovenian AssociationDiplomatic MissionMaltézska Pomoc Slovenija

SomaliaDiplomatic Mission

South AfricaBrotherhood of the BlessedGérard*

South SudanDiplomatic Mission

SpainSubpriory of St George andSt JamesSpanish AssociationDiplomatic MissionFundación Hospitalaria de laOrden de Malta en Espana*

SudanDiplomatic Mission

SurinameDiplomatic Mission

SwedenScandinavian Association

SwitzerlandSwiss AssociationRepresentative toSwitzerlandPermanent Observer, UNPermanent Observer,UNHCRPermanent Observer, WHOPermanent Observer, ICRCPermanent Observer, IFRCPermanent Observer, IOMMalteser-HospitaldienstSchweiz*

TajikistanDiplomatic Mission

ThailandDiplomatic MissionPermanent Observer, ESCAP

Timor-LesteDiplomatic Mission

TogoDiplomatic Mission

TurkmenistanDiplomatic Mission

UkraineDiplomatic MissionMaltijska SlushbaDopomohy*

UruguayUruguayan AssociationDiplomatic Mission

USASubpriory of Our Lady ofPhilermoSubpriory of Our Lady ofLourdesAmerican AssociationFederal AssociationWestern AssociationPermanent Observer, UNPermanent Representative,IDBTri-state Auxiliary*

VenezuelaVenezuelan AssociationDiplomatic Mission

* National volunteer corps

The 2019 Activity Report is a publication of the Communications Office of the Sovereign Order of Malta

Director of CommunicationsEugenio Ajroldi di Robbiate

Editor-in-ChiefPhilippa Leslie

Sub-EditorFrancesca Colesanti, Blandine Rubattu

ContributorsGail Berardino, Jose Joaquin Centurion, Oumayma Farah, Clothilde Giner, Patrick Jabre, Fr. Imre Kozma, Fr. GerardLagleder, Janine Lietmeyer, Karl Löwenstein, Jamilah Mahmood, Maranaj Marku, Marie-Therese Pictet-Althann,Oscar de Rojas y Villa, Franz Salm Reifferscheidt-Raitz, Benjamin Serven, Lisa Simpson, Guido Stöckli, Cardinal PeterTurkson

Coordination of translations, printing and distributionFrancesca Colesanti, Giulia Fascetta, Veronica Scrocco

With thanks for their invaluable help Daniela Bonucci, Elena Bovio, Cristiana Dodi, Nicu Floroaica, Ivo Graziani, Eleonora Habsburg, Valeria Maria Leonardi,Marina Moll, Simona Rotundi, Stefania Silvestri, Barbara Vitali

Grand Magistry Board of Communications (2016-2019) President: Ulrich von Glaunach zum KazenstainMembers: Lucia Gonzalez-Barandiaran, Christopher Poch, Douglas Saurma-Jeltsch , Alain de Quengo de Tonquedec

Graphic design: Mario Fois and Massimo Scacco, Vertigo Design, RomePrinted by: Spektar.bg – December 2018

We wish to thank all the Grand Priories, Sub Priories, national Associations, Diplomatic Missions, Order of Maltaorganisations and Volunteer Corps that contributed material to this publication. Special thanks are also due to thephotographers who contributed images.

Photographic acknowledgements: Eugenio Ajroldi: 3, 66; Pierre Albouy: 16; Julian Andrews: 70, 108; Kovacs Bence: 26; Gonzalo Bell / MalteserInternational: 22, 123, 125; Mauro Bertero: 2; Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard: 86; Remo Casilli: 1, 51; BunnyCenturion: 42; José Joaquìn Centurion: 6; Romain Duda: 81; Marco Ferrario: 115; Nicusor Floroaica: back-cover e 36,38, 40,46, 48, 50 (below), 51, 53 (right), 54, 56, 60, 65, 66, 67; David Daco Fogang: 50 (below); Klemens Groh: 6-7;Soledad Gryciuk: 88; Christian Lendl: 107; Arpad Majoros: 34; Malteser Albania: cover; Malteser Deutschland: 10, 14,19; Malteser International: 23, 24, 112; Marco Merlini: 50, 51, 52 (above), 53 (centre), 121; Marco Miccadei: 76; DirkMoll: 15; Filippo Monteforte: 12; Kenly Montegudo: 17; Carla Morselli: 54; Noor Ahmed Gela / Malteser International:102; Carlos Omeñaca: 43, 93; Ordre de Malte: 80; Jurgen Peperhowe / Malteser International: 57; Barbara Piazza: 33,35; Calin Piescu: 72; Mauro Pinto: 82, 84; Chico Sanchez: 94; Douglas Saurma-Jeltsch: 85; Henry Seah: 103; AntonioSuarez: 89; Troncacci: 112; Yasemin: 24; Kerem Yücel / Malteser International: 13, 25; Agnès Varraine-Leca: 29;Carmen Wolf: 4-5; Adh Zanettini: 101

Edition updated 5 November 2018

© Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta

SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDEROF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA

Magistral PalaceVia dei Condotti, 68Rome - ItalyTel. [email protected]

www.orderofmalta.int

ACTIVITY REPORT - Sovereign Order of Malta

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