How MWB is set up

In order to understand the terminology that I use I probably should define a few terms regarding the structure of Mothers Without Borders here in Zambia. There are some local employees as well as local volunteers. The volunteers are not on the payroll, but receive many benefits as they work with MWB. They may receive housing or meals, etc. Innocent is the country director, Josephine is the program director. They keep the programs going here in Zambia as directed by Kathy. Faith and George are the house parents at the “farm” with Boxen, Fagness and Helga all assisting in the care of the children and the household. Fred and Webster assist as directed in various areas.

The “farm” is a rural farmhouse that is rented by MWB to house the many children who have been rescued from a life of neglect or abuse or abandonment. They live in a family environment where their needs are met and they receive not only food and shelter and clothing, but loving adults who care for them and have become their family. They go to school, participate in daily chores and learn what family responsibilities are. They attend church if they choose to, and most always do. I will be profiling each child sometime soon at this site. Their stories are very sad, but the life they have now is very hopeful and promising.

The idea for the new Family Resource center is to replicate what has been created at the farm many times over. By having a “village” of homes where a couple or perhaps a widow can care for 12 children in a home environment is the ideal alternative to an orphanage. Supplementing these homes will be a health clinic, a school, a vocational training facility, a farm where orchards and crops and animals can be grown to provide food for the homes and stores where items can be sold to the public that have been produced at the center.

The children at the current farm have come to love the employees and volunteers that serve them. They also love each and every American volunteer team that visits for 3 weeks and enriches their lives with love and attention. Most of all they love Auntie Kathy. She has developed a wonderful program here and has a great vision of how to turn this “farm” into the Family Resource Center of Zambia. When it is completed we hope it will be a prototype for others throughout Africa. We hope to be able to make this Center self-sufficient, so that it can support those who live there, thus giving hope to a generation that has been smitten with a dread disease.