Sandra Butters

My name is Sandra Butters and I am an ambassador for Mercy Touch Mission International.

I first became involved with Mercy Touch Mission 7 years ago when I saw a picture of a little girl in a client’s office. I asked about her and she said she was her foster daughter in Zambia.

She explained that she fostered a child with a small grassroots organization called Mercy Touch Mission International. At the time I hardly even heard of Zambia and I certainly couldn’t find it on a map. I did my research and found that Mercy Touch Mission International was started by Dr. Bernard and Anne Mukwavi. This couple is truly inspiring. Anne and Bernard were born and raised in Zambia. Bernard became a Pastor and Anne a teacher. They have 3 daughters. They left Zambia, worked in Holland and eventually came to Canada. It was after a visit back to their homeland that Bernard saw how bad things had become with the onset of AIDS, disease and immense poverty. He saw a huge problem with the growing numbers of orphaned children.

Bernard and Anne decided to do something to help these children. So they went out and got donations, used what little money they had, rented a house and took in some orphans. They started with 4 children and today Mercy Touch has 19 children. This may not seem like a lot but it is 19 kids that would not have been alive today if it were not for Bernard and Anne.

A couple of years ago Mercy Touch purchased a farm consisting of 81 Acres, some old buildings, a mill and a block of four classrooms. The purpose was to have Mercy Touch Mission become self-sufficient and grow a lot of our own food. We also employ some of the people from the surrounding villages to help work the farm. This way we are helping to support the community.

On my last trip to Zambia in April I went with my friend Shelly with the intention of meeting a builder to build another house on the farm to accommodate 20 children. Later my husband and I decided to fund the building of two houses that would accommodate 40 children and 4 housemothers.

Mercy Touch has gotten its orphaned children from small rural villages and compounds. So we have wanted to be able to give back to these people and teach our children to be charitable.

We have implemented an under 5 feeding program. Because the infant mortality rate is high we want to be able to give these children a fighting chance for survival.

When I first started going to Zambia it was a real eye opener for me. I had travelled all over the world and off the beaten track, but never had I encountered poverty such as I had seen in Zambia. You all have seen the World Vision Commercials on Television. They are hard to watch, right? Well I was one of these people that would change the channels. And when I visited the villages from where our kids had come it looked just like a world vision commercial.

But there was one difference that I had not expected. These people were happy. It was not a problem, these people were not waiting around for someone to “save” them or make this world better. These people had nothing and yet what little they did have they shared with others. And they were very thankful for the little they had.

The people had a truly amazing spirit. I have met so many people who were barely surviving and yet they took in other family members in need.