2008 Report to Donors

With Thanksgiving fresh in our memories and the holiday season before us, it seems the perfect time to say THANK YOU and give you a short report on what we’ve accomplished this year. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of our donors, we were able to reach more than 71,000 orphaned and vulnerable children living in Zambia & Zimbabwe and support projects in Madagascar, Guatemala & Honduras. Whether you participated in a volunteer expedition, attended a fundraising event, shopped at our holiday boutique, sponsored a volunteer, donated relief supplies, or made a donation that paid for school fees, shelter, food or training for those we serve, YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE! Let me share with you few of the things your donations allowed us to do this year.

In Zambia and Honduras we distributed more than 40 tons of relief supplies. Once again, it was "just like Christmas" when the large shipping containers were opened and the grateful recipients saw the hundreds and hundreds of boxes, crates and bundles. On behalf of every child who received a new article of clothing, a school kit, a toothbrush or a warm blanket and every woman who can now start her own sewing business with the supplies that were donated, we thank you. For every child who can now attend school, and every baby who has a steady supply of baby formula, for every father who has the tools needed to support his family, and especially for the children found living in child headed households who are now safely in our care, THANK YOU.

This woman buried her daughter, the baby's mother, the day before this photo was taken. She had no money for baby formula, and feared she would soon bury her grandbaby as well. Grief stricken and worried, she came to us for assistance. We were able to provide her with milk from our newly established baby milk bank. She is one of more than 200 babies whose lives were prolonged because of this program.

We are seeing great progress; lives are being changed. The following is one example:

Children in Crisis

When Bernadette was 14, she faced the awesome responsibility of caring for 4 younger siblings when her parents died just months apart, leaving her to be head of the household. Moses was 9, Bridgette 8, Bwalya 5 and Kennedy only 2 years old. With no extended family to support them, she was forced into prostitution to provide food and shelter for the children. By the time she was 17 she had two children of her own. They lived in a filthy, one room, shack, with no electricity, toilet or running water. The children were brought to us in 2007, hungry, sick and frightened. Today, Bernadette has a job in a hair salon and cares for her two babies on her own. The four younger children are happy and thriving at our Children's Resource Center in Zambia, and doing excellent work in school. They are cheerful and talented, and have a bright future ahead. Kennedy is the boy featured in the painting "The Worth of A Soul" by artist Liz Lemon Swindle, featured on our web site. THESE CHILDREN ARE A HAPPY REMINDER THAT WHAT YOU DO MAKES A REAL DIFFERENCE TO REAL PEOPLE, and the sacrifice you make to support this work matters.

Lindsey, an international volunteer teaches village children about the world.

Phase 1 of New Children’s Resource Center (CRC) Completed!

After years of dreaming and planning, and many months of hard work, we completed construction of the first two homes for orphans in the new Children’s Resource Center. Built on 80 acres of farm land we own in Zambia, the new facility is ready for occupancy. In the coming weeks we will move the children and staff to their new home and begin farming the land to provide support.

The Mothers Without Borders Oasis at the Children's Resource Center

The purpose of the Children's Resource Center is to provide a safe and loving family environment for children, like Moses, Bridgette, Bwalya and Kennedy, who are found living in child headed households. These children are not only traumatized by the death of their parents, they are extremely vulnerable to abuse, neglect, illness and starvation. The CRC, located just outside Lusaka, Zambia, provides the children a safe place to live, professional counseling, education, skills training and an opportunity to enjoy their childhood. Each child in the CRC is given a small allowance so they can learn to budget and start a savings account. This year, nine children from the CRC were successfully re-integrated into good homes in the community. 23 children remain with us and continue to thrive. With more than a million orphans in Zambia, local social workers bring new children to us regularly; and our new facility will make it possible for us to provide a loving home for double the number of children we have been able to care for in the past. The success we experience in this program can be attributed to our remarkable and caring staff of local men and women who are dedicated and committed to love, nurture and help create a happy future for these children; and to you for your continued support.

Zimbabwe Feeding Program Continues Despite Political & Economic Chaos

The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe continues to worsen at an alarming rate. Inflation is over 1 million percent, a figure that is nearly impossible for us to comprehend. Shelves in grocery stores are often found empty, fuel is almost impossible to find and the suffering of the innocent is heartbreaking. Thanks to the dedication of Lettie Mhiza, the local woman who started the feeding project for more than 200 orphaned children in her community, the caring men and women who sacrifice so much to assist her, and the unbelievable generosity of Rob and Sharon Spencer who, for the past 18 months, single handedly assured that these children received a truck load of nutritious food EVERY WEEK from their own store, our efforts to feed the children continue. Each day these sweet children (all from child headed households) line up outside the small house used to store and prepare the food, hoping to get their one meal for the day. The line stretches on and on, and Lettie and her friends are the only thing that stand between them and hunger. With your help, we can continue to offer hope to these children.

200+ orphaned children get a hot meal each day from our feeding program in Zimbabwe.

Another year of Extraordinary Volunteers

This year we hosted more than 125 international volunteers who worked side by side with our Zambian staff to complete the first stages of the CRC! They worked hard using picks and shovels to dig trenches for plumbing and a large fish pond, they cut roads, hauled water, cleared fields, picked corn, planted gardens, made bricks, painted inside and out, installed plumbing and roof sheets. When they weren’t working on the building project, they were teaching women to read, write, paint, knit, crochet and sew. They were found reading to street kids, or playing games in local villages. This year’s focus was on literacy, and we collected and distributed more than 1700 books and book bags. Please visit our website at www.motherswithoutborders.org, to see photos of the volunteers in action and to learn how you and your family can join us for this life changing experience next year.

Looking forward to 2009

Next Steps: on the land surrounding the new Children’s Resource Center in Zambia

1. Complete construction of Vocational Training Center: To provide training in job skills for men and women who are willing to care for orphans from their community, but have no way to provide for them. We will offer courses in sewing, welding, carpentry, construction and improved farming techniques.
2. Build a school for 650 children. There are thousands of children in Lusaka who because of the death of their parents, are no longer in school. Education is the key to the future success of these children and their country.
3. Purchase a tractor and other farming equipment, a large truck for hauling commodities to market, seeds, fertilizer and animal stock. Farming the land and raising pigs, goats, chickens and fish, will provide food for the children in our care, and raise money to support the project by selling the excess. Owning and working this land affords us the opportunity to create a sustainable project, teach job skills to the children, and provide for their nutritional needs.

We appreciate the sacrifice you make to support us, and thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who help with the work, we are able to keep our administration costs to a minimum. 94 cents of each dollar raised goes towards projects to benefit the children. While the situation of many children is grave, we are witness to the life changing solutions that can be found when we work together, when we continue to care and when we combine our resources for good.

This woman belongs to one of our Mother's Clubs where she learns job skills, literacy, and financial management. She received a sewing machine to start a small business. In addition to her own children, she cares for several orphans from her village.

In the coming year, we will increase our efforts to reach as many orphaned and vulnerable children as our resources will allow, and we appreciate your willingness to help. As you plan your end of the year giving, please consider a donation to help the children we are privileged to serve. We have seen that what seems to be a little bit, when combined with the gifts of others GOES A LONG WAY. Please know that every gift is valued; every donation is a gift of love and hope.

Albert Schweitzer said it well: "I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end." Please join us as we combine our hearts, hands, resources, and hope this holiday season. Consider becoming a monthly sponsor, and help us help the children all year round. As you celebrate the holidays, may you have peace in your heart, and love and happiness in your home.

Warmest regards,
Kathy Headlee Miner
Founder/CEO

Kindly include your e-mail address with any correspondence and donation, this allows us to e-mail your donation receipt, which saves the cost of paper, envelope and stamp. Please visit our website at www.motherswithoutborders.org for more detailed information on our programs, and photos of our work.