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A Look Back at 2006-
As we begin the New Year, it seems appropriate to look back on 2006 and give thanks to all who helped make it such a great year at Mothers Without Borders.

Some highlights:

• 21 children in residence at our new Children's Resource Center in Zambia, many in school for the first time, and doing great!
• House Mother, Faith Mushipi, gave birth to her own beautiful baby girl, and named her Blessing.
• 28 women graduated from our tailoring school, and were presented with new sewing machines to start small businesses of their own.
• 2 new rooms added to the school at Julius Village.
• 3 new Village Literacy programs begun.
• New program to serve 200 orphaned children in Harare, Zimbabwe, including a daily Children's Feeding Program and the rental of a new facility to house children until extended families can be located.
• 8 children were provided full scholarships to Boarding Schools in Northern Uganda, removing them from war torn Northern Uganda.
• Began building on the 80 acre site for the new Family Resource and Support Center.
• Provided new homes in 3 villages for widows who are caring for 25 orphans.
• Distributed 31,000 lbs of education, medical and relief supplies to 38 local organizations in Zambia, who together serve more than 41,000 widows and orphans.
• 92 volunteers from US and Canada traveled to Zambia and Madagascar to assist our efforts.
• Super Kids Camps were held in 3 villages and at our Children's Resource Center in Zambia. More than 600 children attended!
• Support Clubs in US raised more than $60,000 with Touch a Truck Day, Hunger Banquets, Craft Boutiques, Change for a Child donation drives, Sew a Thons, and many more creative events!

We give thanks for all those who make this organization what it is today.

Stateside Volunteers - We give thanks to all our volunteers that work behind the scenes to make this work possible. Those who work in the warehouse packing thousands of pounds of relief supplies each year, those who collect education, medical, and baby supplies, soccer balls, shovels, carpentry tools, filing cabinets and wheelchairs. We give thanks for those that raise money and raise awareness, for those that donate time, expertise, experience and resources to help us continue this critical work.

Our In-Country Volunteers - We give thanks to the hundreds of local volunteers in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda. They are tireless, compassionate and dedicated; they are an inspiration and an example to us all. Night and day, from one year to the next, they are the safety net for thousands of orphaned and vulnerable children. We honor their commitment and kindness.

Expedition Team Members - We are grateful for the 92 volunteers who sacrificed their time and means to travel with us to Zambia and Madagascar in 2006. They were willing to place themselves in an environment that was unpredictable and often uncomfortable. They taught in schools, played with children in villages, held dying babies, performed medical screenings, painted, dug foundations, repaired plumbing, built houses, planted gardens, taught sewing, crocheting, needlework, health, hygiene, HIV/AIDS awareness, music, art and safe birthing practices. They sang, danced, and drummed their way into the hearts of the children we serve.

Support Club Members - We give thanks for the enthusiastic and loving dedication of the women who have organized and breathed life into Mothers Without Borders Support Clubs across the country. They are promoting the cause of the children of our world with love and persistence. They are generating funds and increasing awareness; both of which are vital to our cause. For a listing of Support Clubs around the country please contact mail@motherswithoutborders.org. To start a Support Club in your neighborhood, please visit MWB Support Clubs.

YOU - And we give thanks to you! Thank you for your donations, your prayers and your caring. Thank you for making 2006 a great year in the lives of the women, children and families we are privileged to serve.

This picture says it all!

Children in Zimbabwe gather around a blanket made by women in the US. The stitching on the blanket reads DREAM, LOVE, HOPE, BELIEVE, TRUST.

Expedition Team Members - Volunteers making a difference!
Imagine the force for good that is embodied in 231 volunteers since 2001, ranging in age from 11 to 76! Teaching, reading, digging, healing, laughing, dancing, loving, holding, dancing, building, listening, crying, and so much more. The strengths of so many coupled with such diverse talents resulted in not only completed projects, but also with lives being changed and global friendships formed. Friends for life and beyond!

July 2006 Team with the children and staff at the Children's Resource Center

The experience of being an expedition team member in Zambia is life changing! We hope you find some insights for your own life, and a reason to smile as we share these experiences from the journals of our expedition team members.

The most important things in life are not things.
"It was lunchtime in Julius Village. The children noiselessly arranged themselves in a line outside the weathered school, waiting expectedly for their noon-time meal. Undoubtedly, it would be the same meal served as yesterday from the same kitchen. The children formed a queue directly behind two large buckets, one containing the meal and the other a bucket for washing. Approximately 15 cups, bottles, and bowls appeared to serve the nearly 100 waiting children. The containers were filled with a watered down version of mealie meal porridge (made from corn meal and cooked over an open fire). The containers were washed (or rather rinsed in the second bucket) after consumption, and subsequently ready for the next child's portion. I watched the children patiently waiting their turn at the porridge bucket, graciously accepting their daily meal. I thought of my own noon-time meal waiting for me on the bus: peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, granola bar, bottle of purified water, and an apple. A peanut-butter and jelly sandwich never tasted so good. The savor of gratitude enriched the flavor of every bite.

Following what I observed to be a meager and unsatisfying lunch, the children gathered for a daily tradition-drumming and dancing. Three young boys kept a steady and rhythmic beat on the drums as the girls danced around, all singing songs of acclamation and praise to God. The sounds and movements were an outward manifestation of a joyful inner expression. Here, in the dust, heat, and barrenness of a rural African village, I was once again reminded that the most important things in life are not things. The most significant things in life are not bought at a store, ordered online, or purchased through a catalog. Rather, they are created within ourselves, built through relationships, and generated because of love."
Kat Gourley- volunteer team leader since 2005

"I will never forget the day trip I took with the women from the MWB sewing club to Kalimba farm. The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the graduation of the ladies from the Tailoring School, and to set up a small micro credit group. Kalimba farm is a reptile farm---and a recreational spot outside of Lusaka. We were going there to see the snakes and crocodiles, have a picnic and create a constitution for the micro credit group (kind of an odd combination of activities).

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was riding to and from Kalimba farm. MWB has a mini-bus and a truck. There were too many of us to fit in the mini-bus, so we piled into the back of truck. The sewing club ladies are used to riding in the back of the truck---a fairly common form of transportation in Zambia. Although, I have become more and more used to this way of traveling over the past four months---my posterior end was still not prepared for the three and a half hours in the back of the truck. (Although, Kalimba farm is about forty-five minutes away, we had to make a number of stops going and coming...i.e. picking up soldiers, buying live chickens and tomatoes, checking on a sewing club member who was absent, etc.). All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride in the back of the truck because of the opportunity to talk and laugh with the women. While I was in Zambia, I grew to love and admire the women in the sewing club---they are kind, strong and resourceful. It was one of those moments in Zambia I will always remember---the warm sun, the sound of the women chatting and the beautiful scenery from the back of the truck."
Suze Johnson - 4 month intern, 2006

Ladies in sewing club celebrate

Riding in the back of a truck

We look forward to another year of dedicated volunteers as we strive to fulfill our goals, one child at a time.

If you would like to join a volunteer team to Zambia, please visit our website at http://www.motherswithoutborders.org/volunteer_zambia.php.

How You Can Help

• Make a cash donation, become a monthly sponsor. Go to Donate Now
• Volunteer to help with grant writing, work in our warehouse or start a Support Club in your area.
• Introduce your friends and family to Mothers Without Borders, encourage them to visit the web site to learn how they can make a difference in the life of a child today. www.motherswithoutborders.org
• Join us on a volunteer expedition Volunteer

Mothers Without Borders
125 E. Main St. Suite 402
American Fork, UT 84003
801-796-5535