January 2015

In 1999, NATO bombed the Balkan Route, a path migrants commonly walked on. With thousands of unmapped landmines remaining, it became increasingly dangerous to travel through the area. The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Suspected Area Map was created. This app allows users to report, locate, and avoid suspected mine-contaminated areas.

FIOTIM is a mobile museum in a trailer that brings art to underserved Brazilian communities, democratizing cultural access. FIOTIM has inspired artists to create similar projects like the Museu da Imagem Itinerante de Maré, a portable museum of photographs that reclaim the favelas’ story through the eyes of their residents.

Due to a migration crisis in Greece, thousands of life jackets were discarded. So some migrants and volunteers upcycled them into different products, such as bags. The funds generated went directly towards essential community needs. It also inspired people to create other items out of the life jackets, like mattresses.

After Cyclone Komen struck Myanmar, it caused flooding and landslides in the west, making many regions inaccessible by road. So the World Health Organization and local community volunteers converted boats into mobile clinics. With locals’ navigation knowledge, they floated through to deliver essential medical care to remote communities.

In 2015, Hungary abruptly closed its border with Croatia, causing thousands of migrants to become stranded in temporary encampments. The internet in these camps became overwhelmed, unstable, and unusable. Volunteers put donated technology into bags and gave the bags to volunteers to walk around with, creating mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.