Communities Without Borders (CWB) was founded on a simple conviction: every child deserves the chance to learn, grow, and imagine a future unbounded by loss or circumstance. Over more than two decades of partnership with Zambian communities, the organization has seen firsthand the persistent gaps that keep orphans and vulnerable children from accessing the education and care they deserve. These gaps are not theoretical. They appear in overcrowded classrooms, in the strain on caregivers stretched thin, and in the quiet resilience of children navigating grief far too early in life. As Peter Smith, President and Founding Director, often reflects, “We step in because the distance between what children need and what they receive is still far too wide.”
The global landscape makes that distance impossible to ignore. UNICEF reports that 13.8 million of the world’s 152 million orphans have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related causes, with the vast majority living in sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia mirrors this reality with stark clarity: an estimated 350,000 children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2024 alone, 120,000 new HIV infections occurred among children worldwide, and 75,000 children under 15 died from AIDS-related causes, losses that could have been prevented with timely testing and treatment.
Progress remains uneven. Roughly 65,000 adolescents in Zambia are living with HIV, yet nearly one in ten are not receiving treatment. Among children aged 0–14, 41,300 are on antiretroviral therapy, while an estimated 14,000 remain untreated. Globally, treatment coverage for children still hovers at only 55%, with some regions in Africa falling as low as 37%.
It is within this urgent context that Communities Without Borders has shaped its mission. Since 2000, the organization has enabled more than 5,000 children to access primary education, children who otherwise would have been excluded due to poverty, stigma, or the absence of caregivers. Today, more than 1,500 orphans and vulnerable children in Lusaka and surrounding areas receive support that includes daily lunches, uniforms, backpacks, shoes, and the textbooks required by schools. “A child’s potential should never be determined by the loss of a parent,” Smith emphasizes. “Education is the first promise we must keep.”
Yet education cannot flourish in isolation. A child who is hungry, ill, or emotionally burdened cannot fully participate in learning. Communities Without Borders continues to prioritize health, supporting Sekelela School, where students have access to a local medical clinic for screenings, treatment of minor illnesses, and referrals for more serious conditions. Vision screenings and eyeglasses ensure that poor eyesight does not become another barrier to learning. The organization also funded a solar-powered water pump that sustains the school’s garden, which now provides vegetables for healthier lunches, an example of how practical investments can ripple outward into long-term wellbeing. As Smith often notes, “When we treat health and education as separate worlds, we guarantee that the most vulnerable will fall through both.”
The emotional toll of orphanhood is equally profound. Through the Tree of Life counseling initiative, children receive mentoring, emotional support, and tools to process trauma. These programs recognize that healing is not an optional extra but a foundation for learning. Communities Without Borders also invests in teacher training and infrastructure, building classrooms, wells, and sanitation facilities that strengthen entire communities and create environments where children can thrive.
What has become increasingly clear is that the organization’s success is rooted in strong teams. The Sekelela School Committee is deeply committed and highly effective, and the Zambia Board of Directors is active, engaged, and central to decision-making. These relationships are not symbolic; they are the engine of progress. As Smith puts it, “Real change happens when communities choose to stand with each other, not above each other. Our strongest work comes from working with strong teams.”
The path forward demands collective resolve. The data is sobering, the needs are urgent, and the solutions are within reach. Communities Without Borders offers a model for what becomes possible when education, health, and human dignity are treated not as separate interventions but as interconnected commitments. In the face of loss, the organization continues to build pathways to possibility, one child, one classroom, and one partnership at a time.
