LWB Community

In many countries around the world, the standard practice for children who are abandoned or relinquished is to place them into institutional care. Long-term stays in orphanages, however, can lead to both physical and emotional harm to a child. There is plenty of research on the topic of course, but all of us at LWB have seen firsthand the difference it makes in a child’s life when they are instead given the opportunity to be raised in family-based care.

Last September, two little boys entered the same foster family. Asher was five years old, and Zeke was three. These two boys are not related by blood, but they have become extremely close and are definitely brothers in their hearts!

Some of you will remember that right before Christmas 2019, newborn preemie Elgin was found in the cold. We rushed him to LWB’s partner hospital in Hefei. Baby Elgin was admitted to the Neonatal ICU (NICU) weighing just 1.3 kgs, or 2.9 pounds. After spending over a month in the hospital at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Elgin reached the “magic weight” of 4 lbs and could leave the hospital at last.

As we spoke, she was either covering her face and giggling, or swelling with tears. Deborah is a woman of great joy and compassion, and I liked her right away. She works twelve-hour days, from 6 AM to 6 PM, as one of the cooks for the Mukono Healing Home in Uganda. For eight years, she has been working hard at this job. And to her work, she pours out an abundance of skill and heart.

Twins Sawyer and Lizzie were born late last summer. After their parents were no longer able to care for them, they entered our Cambodia Foster Care program when they were three months old along with their older brothers Henry and Howard. Although Sawyer is the first-born of the twins, Lizzie has him beat on size. We love her extra baby rolls!

Roberta has been a resident of LWB foster care and on-site family care off and on since she was 4 years old and has been eligible for adoption for many years. We have just learned that there is a family hoping to bring her home at last!

As the whole world shares the weight of a pandemic, the truth that love has no boundaries has never rung truer. There is a collective ache we feel, a grief we share, from the United States to India, and from China to Uganda. Hard stories abound, and no country is spared. Nevertheless, beautiful stories abound as well, because we also carry collective compassion and collective hope. Running in tandem alongside all the challenges are brilliant light and many illustrations of great humanity and love for others.

Love Without Boundaries’ Safe Haven foster care program works in the field of anti-trafficking.  We are so grateful to all of our supporters who make this important program of refuge possible.  It’s a real comfort to know that all of the children in this program are being cared for safely at their foster homes during the global pandemic. While the schools are currently closed, the education of the children in our Safe Haven foster care program is still going strong. Thanks to donors’ generosity, all students in our program went home with activity books, paper, pencils, and anything else we could source.

Every quarter, the children in our Cambodia foster care program head to the swimming pool for a much-anticipated Swim Day. The children in our foster care programs, who range in age from 1 to 14 years old, have known true hardship. All of the children in this program have sadly experienced trauma, and we know the importance of physical activity to benefit mental health. Swim Day allows the children to be with siblings, friends and foster families in a safe and fun environment, and get to play as kids should.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. All month, we’ve been celebrating the many incredible children in our programs who were born with Down Syndrome. On the final day of October, we are putting them all together to showcase how down-right amazing they are!