Optimistic Voices

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Child welfare is undergoing a profound transformation worldwide as organizations shift away from institutional orphanages toward family-based care models. But what does this transition actually look like on the ground? How can we redirect well-intentioned support toward solutions that truly serve children's needs?

This eye-opening conversation brings together true pioneers in the global care reform movement. Stephen Ucembe draws from his lived experience growing up in a Kenyan orphanage to advocate for family care through Hope and Homes for Children and Transform Alliance Africa. Phil Aspegren shares his remarkable journey from orphanage founder to family care champion as Executive Director of Casa Viva, supporting transitions across Latin America. Together with host David Titus Musa of Sierra Leone, they unpack myths about orphanages that perpetuate family separation.

The statistics are sobering: for every three months in an institution, a child loses approximately one month of development. Yet there's tremendous hope in the successful transitions happening worldwide. We hear about a Honduran children's home that reunified all 40 children with families, then redirected their resources to support 125 vulnerable families in the community, preventing separations before they happen.

Whether you're a donor, volunteer, or simply care about vulnerable children, this conversation presents a compelling vision for reform. Family isn't just a nice option – it's essential.

Family is the foundation for healthy development, identity formation, and cultural connection. The good news? There are concrete ways that all of us can redirect our compassion toward solutions that strengthen families rather than separate them.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

____

Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.

Contact [email protected] to discuss how.

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Discover the remarkable journey of Monjama, a young woman from rural Sierra Leone whose life trajectory shifted dramatically through education, family reconnection, and dedicated support. Left fatherless in a remote village without schools or healthcare facilities, Monjama's future seemed predetermined by generational poverty—until intervention changed everything.

At just seven years old, Monjama entered the Child Reintegration Center (CRC), encountering formal education for the first time. Despite having no prior schooling, her natural abilities flourished as she was double-promoted through her studies. When the CRC transitioned from residential care to family-based support in 2016, Monjama faced new challenges: reconnecting with her mother while continuing her education.

The podcast welcomes two special guests who bring this story to life. Rosa Saffa, a social worker at the CRC who was herself raised in residential care, shares unique insights into the emotional complexities Monjama navigated. Then surprisingly, Monjama herself joins the conversation, describing her journey from disconnection to rebuilding relationships with her mother and siblings. We hear firsthand about the obstacles she overcame—language barriers, cultural differences, and the emotional work of reestablishing family bonds after years of separation.

Most powerfully, Monjama reveals how she completed nursing school and treated her own mother as her first patient—a profound full-circle moment that exemplifies how supporting one child can transform entire families and communities. As Rosa eloquently states, "If you educate a girl child, you educate a nation."

This episode challenges listeners to reconsider what creates true resilience in vulnerable children. Beyond academic opportunities, Monjama's story demonstrates how family connections provide the emotional foundation and sense of belonging essential for lasting success. Through her journey, we witness the transformative power of holistic support that addresses both educational needs and family relationships.

Ready to be part of someone's journey toward hope? Visit helpingchildrenworldwide.org to learn how 

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Child sponsorship seems like the perfect way to help vulnerable children abroad – for just $30 a month, you get photos, letters, and the satisfaction of changing a child's life. But what if this model is causing unexpected problems?

In this thought-provoking episode, we dive deep into the $3.29 billion child sponsorship industry with Dr. Hunter Farrell, author of "Congregational Mission." Having operated our own sponsorship program for years, we explore why global child welfare experts are increasingly critical of this popular fundraising approach.

Dr. Farrell explains how sponsorship programs often create an "illusion of relationship" that can undermine family structures and elevate Western donors to an almost divine status. We discuss the uncomfortable realization that for all our good intentions, we may be perpetuating harmful power dynamics. As one Peruvian mother pointedly asked: "How would it feel to you if a foreigner was writing your 11-year-old daughter every month?"

The conversation isn't about condemning those who sponsor children – it's about recognizing sponsorship as a starting point that can evolve into more equitable partnerships. We explore three practical alternatives that address root causes rather than symptoms: supporting community-based programs, pairing international giving with local engagement, and persistently asking "why" about the underlying causes of vulnerability.

Whether you're currently sponsoring a child, considering it, or working in global development, this conversation challenges us to apply the golden rule to our international relationships and reimagine how we can truly support vulnerable children worldwide. Join us for this essential discussion about privilege, power, and the path toward more effective global partnerships.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

When Jen Conrad first sponsored a child in Sierra Leone, she never imagined it would lead to adoption proceedings, heartbreaking visa denials, and eventually creating a groundbreaking program that's changing lives across the country. Her story reveals the hidden aftermath of institutional care that few people consider: what happens when orphaned children become adults?

After traveling to Sierra Leone multiple times and forming deep bonds with two siblings, Jen and her husband pursued adoption. Despite gaining full legal guardianship in Sierra Leone's courts, their hopes were crushed when U.S. immigration repeatedly denied visas for their children. Suddenly faced with parenting teenagers across an ocean, Jen discovered an even greater problem - young adults aging out of orphanages had nowhere to go and no skills for independent living.

"There were more resources available for someone coming out of prison than a child transitioning from institutional care," Jen explains. Without basic life skills, budgeting knowledge, or mental health support, these young adults faced nearly impossible odds. When rumors spread that the transition program would be ending and children might be sent back to families unprepared to receive them, Jen knew she had to act. She worked with a local Sierra Leonean NGO, Child and Family Permanency Services, to create a program to assist care leavers suddenly facing life outside the institution with no supports.

Named in honor of her mother who never gave up hope that her grandchildren would come home, Mamaw's House now provides comprehensive support to young adults leaving orphanage care. Managed as a program of an established organization that provides family strengthening, child reintegration and child protection services, Mamaw's House offers care leavers from Sierra Leone orphanages continuing education, connections to find basic housing and necessary services, mentorship from former care leavers, life skills training, and mental health services. Within its first year, it has already helped over 20 young adults.

As Sierra Leone considers legislation to close orphanages entirely, Mamaw's House stands ready to expand its crucial work. "I think their stories are going to be very powerful," Jen says of the resilient young people finding their independence through the program. "I'm really encouraged that they're going to break the cycle and be part of this change." 

To learn ways you can help Mamaw's House and the Child and Family Permanency Services - go to https://cfpssl.org

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Abdullahi Jawobah takes us deep into the critically overlooked world of maternal mental health, where his groundbreaking  research reveals a staggering statistic: approximately 50% of pregnant and lactating mothers in Sierra Leone experience psychological distress. This silent epidemic has far-reaching consequences not only for mothers but for their unborn children, as Dr. Jawobah explains how stress hormones cross the placenta to affect gene expression in developing fetuses. Addressing this is a pathway to reducing stillbirths, preeclampsia, infant malnutrition, and physical health outcomes.

The conversation illuminates how mothers in Sierra Leone express their psychological suffering through culturally specific language—describing their distress as "my heart is spoiled" or "my heart is crying"—rather than using Western terms like depression or anxiety. Dr. Jawobah shares the heartbreaking cultural context where women who undergo cesarean sections may be viewed as "not fit to be women" and mothers whose babies develop malnutrition might be accused of infidelity, creating significant barriers to seeking mental health support.

What makes this episode particularly powerful is Dr. Jawobah's innovative solution: adapting Zimbabwe's "Friendship Bench" intervention for Sierra Leone. By training elderly women from existing mother-to-mother support groups to provide problem-solving therapy, his team created a culturally appropriate support system that produced "phenomenal" results. These elderly women, once feeling marginalized themselves, find new purpose in guiding younger mothers through their challenges, creating a beautiful intergenerational healing model. (Research)

Abdulai Jawo Bah completed his PhD in Global Mental Health at Queen Margaret University in Scotland. He is an NIH Diversity Supplement Research Fellow and Research Associate at Boston College's Department of Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA), investigating transmission of trauma from former child soldiers to their offspring.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

____

Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.

Contact [email protected] to discuss how.

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Sixteen-year-old Musu Sangu faced a devastating diagnosis in Sierra Leone—a life-threatening heart condition requiring specialized surgery unavailable anywhere in her country. With her heart functioning at just 20% capacity and given only a 40% chance of survival, Musu's future looked grim. But what followed was an extraordinary demonstration of global compassion that would save her life.

The journey began at Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone, where Dr. Aruna Stevens identified Musu's condition using a newly acquired EKG machine. Through the Child Reintegration Center's family strengthening program, Musu already had access to medical care and a dedicated case manager who advocated tirelessly for her. When it became clear that she needed surgery unavailable in Sierra Leone, an incredible network of support mobilized across three continents.

Gary and Mary Ann Gilkyson, who had met Musu during a mission trip, rallied their church in South Carolina to raise funds. The Sick Pickin Foundation connected her with surgical care in India. Staff members at multiple organizations coordinated passports, visas, medical clearance, and financial support. After a grueling journey from Freetown through multiple countries, Musu arrived in New Delhi where surgeons performed her high-risk aortic valve replacement.

Against tremendous odds, Musu made a remarkable recovery. Within a month, she returned home to her family in Sierra Leone. Today, she's back in school, even playing Mary in the CRC Christmas play, while her mother builds stability through a microfinance program.

This powerful story reminds us that when compassion knows no borders, extraordinary things happen. People who had never met Musu—and many who never will—worked together to give her a future. Consider joining this village of support through the Emergency Medical Health Fund, established to help more children like Musu access life-saving care when local resources aren't enough. Your contribution could be part of the next miracle.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to a transformative episode that dives deep into saving lives through improved maternal health in Sierra Leone. We share inspiring stories from a recent training conference in Kenema, focusing on the critical role midwives play in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. You'll hear from Matron Mary Augusta Fuller, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, who shares insights on the vital need for comprehensive training programs for midwives, addressing both essential newborn care and postpartum hemorrhage management. 

In our conversation, we explore the significance of mental health awareness among healthcare providers, highlighting how integrated training can create better support systems for mothers and their newborns. Additionally, we tackle cultural barriers women face in rural settings, often inhibiting their access to crucial medical care. The episode emphasizes the importance of empowering midwives with both knowledge and practical training to advance community health outcomes. 

Through dialogue about new initiatives and the ambitious strategic plans laid out by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, we present a hopeful vision for the future of maternal health in Sierra Leone. Join us in understanding how these efforts can pave the way for a healthier tomorrow for mothers and their children. Stay tuned as we inspire meaningful change in local healthcare communities. 

Help spread the mission of maternal health advocacy by subscribing, sharing our episode, and leaving a review!

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Join us for a deeply inspiring episode that follows the miraculous journey of baby Joseph, born against all odds in a rural clinic in Sierra Leone. This episode highlights the intense realities faced by healthcare workers like midwife Hawa Zoker, caught in a life-or-death situation while managing multiple deliveries. Tune in to hear about the pivotal moment when help arrived in the form of Canadian nurses, who brought both medical expertise and critical supplies that ultimately saved Joseph's life and that of his mother, Nancy.

As we unravel this powerful narrative, we delve into the impact of maternal health training programs, exploring how education can transform lives. You'll hear about Hawa's journey as she changed from a burned-out midwife to a dedicated trainer, sharing skills needed to save lives and creating a ripple effect of change in her community. The episode not only chronicles Joseph's fight for survival but also challenges listeners to consider how small, compassionate actions can lead to significant shifts in healthcare systems.

We invite you to reflect on the importance of collaboration in healthcare as we discuss the crucial role of community support and training. Be inspired by Joseph’s story and learn how hope and dedication can pave the way for a healthier future for mothers and children alike. Remember to subscribe, share this episode, and leave us a review! Your support helps us amplify these critical narratives of hope and resilience.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

The episode shares Ishmael's inspiring journey from pain to healing through the compassionate care provided by Mercy UMC Hospital. Listeners learn how community support and dedicated healthcare professionals can create incredible transformations in children's lives.

• Ishmael's broken body and his mother's desperate journey for help
• Dr. Morie Vandi’s commitment to serving underserved communities
• Mercy's outreach program and how important it is in providing medical care to rural areas where poverty is extreme
• The successful surgical intervention for Ishmael's hernia
• The fusion of medical care and emotional support during recovery
• Ishmael’s joyful transformation post-surgery and his aspirations for the future
• Our young Co-host's perspective and her uplifting message about kindness and community impact

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with your friends and leave a review. Together, we can bring more stories of hope to life.

More about our guest: https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/latestnews/introducing-dr-morie-vandi-mercy-hospitals-newest-physician
More about Mercy Hospital:
https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mercy-hospital.html

How you can support crucial health services for children like Ishmael.
https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/give-998668.html

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to the first episode of Season of the Optimistic Voices podcast of Helping Children Worldwide. This is a REBROADCAST of Episode 1, Season 3, because we are once again heading to West Africa on this collaborative mission to save the lives of mothers and infants - and going upstream in our mission to prevent unnecessary orphanhoods from occurring.

We help children worldwide by strengthening and Empowering Families and communities. This podcast is for people interested in deep conversations with thought leaders in the field of child welfare, global health and international missions to the global South.

Our special host for this episode is Kathleen Pfohl, the maternal health mission graduate intern with Helping Children Worldwide., along with guests Josephine Garnem,  Executive Director of Healy International Relief Foundation and Dr. Mariama Massaquoi, co-founder of Tenki for Born, which she runs together with her siblings as a way for members of the diaspora to recognize and give back to the communities where their families and ancestors were born. Dr. Masaquoi is a family medicine doctor based in Virginia. Mariama, and a guest on a prior episode of Optimistic Voices, where she discussed the Mission of Tenki for Born. Tenki for Born is dedicated to alleviating maternal mortality. Helping Children Worldwide, Healy International and Tenki are members of Together for Global Health, a professional Network convened by Helping Children Worldwide and managed by Yasmine Vaughan, Helping Children Worldwide's Technical Advisor for Global Health and Missions.

 During January 2024, the together for Global health network members are hosting a maternal health conference in Sierra Leone, West Africa, training midwives and nurses and focused on creating a cadre of well-trained practitioners who can train others locally in order to sustain the educational impact of the conference, improve continuity of care and capacity of local providers. 

The training builds on training provided by CHASL in 2023 and is the first collaboration of a long term plan for training missions to Sierra Leone to bring the educational efforts to every community and region in the country.

The conference outcomes will inform future collaborative endeavors, through monitoring, evaluation and collaborative research on long term impacts of the training.

Think Global, Do Justice Website

Passionate about your faith and making a difference in the world? Check out this podcast!

___________

Family Empowerment Advocates support the work of family empowerment experts at the Child Reintegration Centre, Sierra Leone.  Your small monthly donation,  prayers, attention & caring is essential. You  advocate for their work to help families bring themselves out of poverty, changing the course of children's lives and lifting up communities. join

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org