With your help, Love Without Boundaries is sending disaster relief items such as tents and tarps rope, blankets and bedding, masks and gloves, flashlights, disinfectant, shoes and socks, heavy coats, and of course food, water, and medical supplies to those impacted by the earthquake. Please join with us as we work together to bring comfort to victims of the earthquake. Our orphanage assistance team will be coordinating the disaster relief efforts. To donate, please visit click the “Donate Now” button on the LWB website, lovewithoutboundaries.com. Select “Orphanage Assistance” from the scroll-down menu and write “Earthquake” in the notes section.

Thank you for opening your hearts to the people of Yushu. Together we can bring hope to those who are bearing a hardship today.

Homecoming unites the past and the present — Author Unknown

Mama’s Wish graduates Nan, Suonan and Tsering Tso recently took some time to visit students in their old school in the Tibetan community of Tongren. Think how exciting it must have been for Kanogyal, a third grader, to spend time with these graduates who personify her hopes for her own future. Like Kanogyal, Suonan and Tsering are orphans and must understand the challenges the younger girl faces as she pursues her dreams.

Nan recently graduated from college and has passed entrance exams for a graduate program in Tibetan data processing. Suonan is also a recent graduate and has accepted a position at a large company in Chengzheng. Tsering is studying Tibetan Literature at Qinghai Nation University in Xining and expects to graduate in 2013. Her ultimate goal is to work as a Chinese-Tibetan translator.

As a current college student, Tsering is still seeking additional sponsors to help her afford her school expenses. For just $25 a month, you could help Tsering’s dream become a reality. Please visit our Mama’s Wish page to learn more about her and our other wonderfully deserving Mama’s Wish students!

Recently, we learned that 300 students in the Tongren and Jianzha schools in the Qinghai region of Tibet have become ill from the H1N1 virus. These students are from rural and nomadic families living in extremely close quarters and know very little about this virus. We have been asked to provide whatever support we can to help these students learn good health habits and prevent the spread of disease in these schools.

Because these students live in such close proximity to one another, they frequently share water bottles and thermoses. In order to help prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus as well as other diseases, we would like to purchase thermoses for these students to use for drinking water. Just think of what something seemingly so minor to many of us might mean to the health and well-being of these needy Tibetan students.

Donations can be made by visiting the Make a Donation page on the main LWB site.

Thank you for helping us support some of the most vulnerable victims of this virus.

Last fall when we we knew there would be twelve students sponsored by LWB’s Mama’s Wish program graduating from college, we hoped that we could find funding to send a family member of each student to graduation to help them celebrate.

Students in the Mama’s Wish program are impoverished or orphaned individuals from rural Tibet, and in this part of China, orphans generally do know some family members. Thanks to the Mama’s Wish supporters, we were able to help each student have a family member attend graduation ceremonies with them.

Meet one of our proud graduates, Wande Cuo. She graduated from Qinhai Medical College with her mother in attendance at graduation. Her mother is so proud of her, and they both enjoyed sharing this exciting time in Wande Cuo’s life. Wande Cuo has taken a volunteer doctor’s position in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province to help her gain experience.

For the most part, the families of these Mama’s Wish students have never gone anywhere outside of their own villages. It was a leap of faith on their part to send their children to us years ago and then again to leave their homes to celebrate their children’s academic achievements. However, the families of these students value education and dream that this will help them to live a better life. Like their families, we also are bursting with pride over the accomplishments of our Mama’s Wish students.

Jody Goering is Mama’s Wish Associate Director for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Illinois, USA with husband Addison and five children. Jody and Addison have one homegrown son and three daughters and a son adopted from China.

2010 will bring yet more college graduates sponsored by Mama’s Wish Program.

Please meet a special young woman sponsored by the Mama’s Wish program, Zhou Jie. Zhou Jie will graduate with a degree in Physics from Qinghai Normal University, and she hopes to someday become a high school physics teacher. Zhou Jie’s teachers praise her for being self-disciplined, active and excellent in her academic performance. We can’t wait to see what great things await Zhou in her last year of college and further into the future!

Jody Goering is Mama’s Wish Associate Director for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Illinois, USA with husband Addison and five children. Jody and Addison have one homegrown son and three daughters and a son adopted from China.

When Norzin lost both of his parents, his world was crushed. As a double orphan, Norzin has been supported by Love Without Boundaries and Mama’s Wish sponsors since 2005.

The Mama’s Wish program provides education support to impoverished rural students from the Tibetan Plateau. Norzin showed great potential and was selected for sponsorship. He put all his efforts into studying in order to forget his past, and in return what he found was a newborn sense of self.

We are happy to announce that Norzin will graduate from Qinghai Medical University in Xining this summer with a degree in Medicine and an average of 85 in all subjects. After graduation, he plans to return to his village and open a pharmacy with some of his classmates. We are very proud of Norzin and pleased that Mama’s Wish and LWB could play a part in his success. To learn more about the Mama’s Wish Program, please go to http://lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_mamas_wish.cfm.

Jody Goering is Mama’s Wish Associate Director for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Illinois, USA with husband Addison and five children. Jody and Addison have one homegrown son and three daughters and a son adopted from China.

Meet Dorjee, a student in our “Mama’s Wish” education program who is attending the Wuming Charity School of JianZha County in Qinghai Province. Dorjee’s scores soared this semester, including a whopping 115 points on his final exam in Chinese.

The head teacher wrote the following note to Dorjee on his most recent report card:

If you’d climb, there’s no mountain higher than you.
If you’d walk, there’s no road longer than the way under your feet.
Ban Ma, Head Teacher

In his most recent letter to his sponsor, Dorjee credited his success to the woman who has sponsored his education over the past three years, as follows:

Thank you for your kindness that let me feel the warmth of a mother’s love again. My boat of life set sail again owing to the wind of your help. I don’t know how to repay you besides the excellent grades in exams. I can only use my pen, writing on this paper my hearty expressions. Having your financial assistance has made me believe I am the luckiest guy. To hand down this love and luck, I’ll study harder and achieve more in my future study. Wish you a healthy and smooth new year, Dorjee.

We are incredibly proud of Dorjee, who is making the most of the opportunity that has been given to him. In case you’re wondering what his scores were on his other final exams this semester, here they are:

Tibetan 91
English 96
Computer 91
Math 89

Way to go, Dorjee!

Angela Taylor
Mama’s Wish Education Program Consultant