A calling from the heart
Fraternity Without Borders was founded after a calling from the heart. Wagner Moura, the founder, and president of FWB, was still a child when he found himself crying over the hunger in the world. That pain accompanied him through his youth and awakened in him the desire of helping those in need. As an adult, he began volunteering in unprivileged areas in his city. However, that was not enough for him, Wagner wanted to do more for humanity, so he decided to go to Africa.
At first, he decided to help Mozambique since it is a Portuguese-speaking country, located in the poorest area of the world, the Sub-Saharan Africa, a region where one million people suffer from hunger and six hundred thousand are orphans. There, he started the Shelter Mozambique project, providing a home for numerous children.
From those early days until today, a series of fortunate events have been leaving the marks of fraternity and love in Africa, helping us build a better world.
Wagner returns from the trip to Africa, gathers his closest friends and proposes the creation of an NGO. With a group of volunteers, he organizes a charity barbecue to raise capital. The initiative yields R$ 25,000 and, along with his closest friends, Wagner founds Fraternity without Borders
How is it possible to sustain our charity work and create conditions to shelter even more children that were in extreme need of care? The sponsorship idea aroused. The monthly contribution of R$50,00 (US$12,00) guaranteed the enrollment and permanence of one more child in the project, therefore, a new sponsor would allow another child to be helped by FWB. The capital acquired in fundraising events and single donations were destined to buy the resources need to build our reception centers. Our cause gradually touched many hearts and thousands of individuals in Brazil and abroad became sponsors.
Years later, in 2017, a needed decision was made: the sponsorship system was not about sponsoring a specific child anymore, but the entire project. That change was necessary because the number of children enrolling in the project became greater than our capacity of building and equipping new community centers. As a result of that change, we launched Estrutural Moçambique (Mozambique Structural) and the contribution of new sponsors was destined to building kitchens, bathrooms and rooms for pedagogical activities. The success of all projects is directly linked to the sponsorship system.
Years after the beginning of our project, a new challenge aroused as we faced the fact that the first children sheltered were already young adults and had different needs and demands. In the villages, they were only able to study until the sixth grade, because higher levels of education were only offered in the city. With no money for transportation and school supply, the majority of them ended up quitting school.
It was necessary to create new ways of working to support and guide them to the future. Therefore, we created the Youth Project (Projeto Jovem) in which the sponsors would guarantee these young adults to continue their education and offering them the opportunity of having a profession. Education gave these adolescents self-esteem and confidence to inspire others in their community to follow the same path, keeping the hope of change more alive than ever.
Artesian water wells were drilled in Mozambican villages. The access to water enabled the practice of sustainable agricultural cultivation allowing the project to be self-sufficient.
It was registered the Fraternity Without Borders Switzerland Center . And in July of the same year, Fraternity Without Borders United Kingdom Center became officially active.
Fraternity went south of Madagascar and started assisting families that suffered from hunger and thirst, in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. They immediately started an emergency humanitarian mission and sheltered thousands of people.
The Jovem Emmanuel (Young Emmanuel) Philharmonic Orchestra in Campo Grande, Brazil becomes part of our projects.
The movement grows and the organization needs an adequate space to serve sponsors, promoters, gift center and the administration of all humanitarian projects we make. So, the organization invested in the opportunity to purchase its own headquarters space, where it also starts holding small events, such as launching new actions and meetings with the cause sponsors.
The movement grows and the organization needs an adequate space to assist sponsors, promoters, to locate the gift shop and to manage all humanitarian projects. We therefore invest in the opportunity to purchase our own headquarters, where we also begin to put on small events, such as the launching of new campaigns and meetings for sponsors of the cause.
Another center is put together abroad: now with the Fraternity Without Borders Center United States takes the cause even further.
Fraternity without Borders partners with new causes in Northeast Brazil: Portraits of Hope and Jardim das Borboletas (Garden of Butterflies). With Portraits of Hope, houses are built for families in the sertão of Northeast Brazil; with Jardim das Borboletas, the treatment of people with a rare and incurable skin disease, epidermolysis bullosa, is funded, as the required care is expensive.
FWB joins with Clínica da Alma (Clinic of the Soul), in Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, to help to overcome one of the greatest social challenges: substance abuse. The project Fraternity in the Street creates the opportunity for sponsors to strengthen and expand the work of Clínica da Alma, based on discipline, occupational therapy, and spirituality.
Fraternity without Borders (FWB) president, Wagner Moura, received the Prêmio Inspiração (Inspiration Award) on the Globo network show of host Luciano Huck, on 20 April 2019. The award, that was also given to four other recipients, was possible thanks to Wagner’s lifestyle, focused on goodness and the change in the world around him. On this occasion, the story of Fraternity without Borders was told by its founder. From the beginning to the present moment, where the work counts on many hearts willing to beat in rhythm with this cause that dreams of a better world, a world of peace.
Canada also becomes one more core of the organization outside Brazil. Thus, the Fraternity Without Borders Canada Center is registered and implemented to spread and experience the message of the fraternity.
The fourth edition of the FWB meeting took place between the 17th and 19th of April, in a completely virtual way due to the social isolation required by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the distance, we strengthened the brotherhood feeling and joined many hands in service of love.
First virtual collection of food boxes for Brazil and Africa, benefiting FWB projects and 69 other partner institutions in need because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to the MS center, in partnership with Clínica da Alma (Clinic of The Soul), the project reaches the Brazilian cities: São Paulo/SP, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Uberlândia/MG and Belo Horizonte/MG - with the objective of providing several fronts and work performance to welcome and help homeless people in Brazil.
We started to carry out the complete administration of the project, migrating from being supported to an organization’s own project.