Optimistic Voices

When Barbara Sprout accompanied her daughter Kim to Sierra Leone on a mission trip with their church,  little did she know it would mark the beginning of an incredible journey, not just for Kimberly, but also for her and her husband Rick, filled with deep connections and life-altering experiences. Rick joined a volunteer crew at the church to pack a container filled with hospital equipment in 2007 to ship overseas to Mercy Hospital in Africa, then traveled years later, humbled to see how his one mundane act had helped to save lives. Today's episode features the Sprouts as they recount their transformative work with Helping Children Worldwide, offering an intimate glimpse into the joy and fulfillment that comes from serving communities in Sierra Leone. From medical outreaches to family support, their heartfelt stories illustrate the profound impact of dedicated service and the visible progress achieved over a decade of commitment.Have you ever considered the ripple effect your actions can have across the globe? The narrative unfolds as our guests share their engagement with Helping Children Worldwide, discussing the rewarding nature of building relationships and watching children thrive. The conversation takes us on a journey of growth, both personal and communal, showcasing the power of generosity to change lives and the evolution of child care from orphanages to family-focused support. Join us as we share inspiring anecdotes from mission trips and explore the true meaning of service, aiming to ignite a spark in others to discover the deep satisfaction found in helping others.Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Step into the heart of Sierra Leone with us on Optimistic Voices, where Carrie Jo Cain from CHAMPS imparts her wisdom on neonatal mortality and the life-saving power of evidence-based training. Through our conversation, we celebrate a major leap in maternal and child health, with 80 trainees now armed with the expertise to tackle challenges like bleeding after birth and birth asphyxia. Witness the embodiment of hope as these professionals, with Carrie Jo's guidance, forge a path towards a healthier future for mothers and their newborns.Joining us with tales from the frontlines, Dr. Andrew Justice, a pediatrician with unwavering dedication to global health, recounts his serendipitous journey to Sierra Leone and the transformation he's witnessed by educating nurses and midwives in Essential Newborn Care. His narrative not only highlights the resilience of healthcare workers but also the innovative teaching methods that cross cultural and language barriers. Dr. Justice's reflections provide a vivid account of the complexities and triumphs in elevating healthcare standards under challenging conditions.Lastly, we pay homage to the midwives of Sierra Leone, true vanguards in the realm of maternal health. Their tireless work and relentless pursuit of excellence are not just improving outcomes but also inspiring change across communities. From their expanded roles to the leadership they embody, the strategies for community engagement they employ are nothing short of revolutionary. Their stories, alongside those of Embrace International nurses like Betty Tenga, underscore the significance of compassionate collaboration and the enduring spirit of those dedicated to nurturing life in its earliest moments.Kathleen Pfohl is the maternal Health mission intern with Helping Children Worldwide. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Global Health Policy at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, DC. Through this program she has been building upon her academic foundation in international conflict analysis and resolution, for which she obtained a bachelor's degree from George Mason University. As a full time manager of training coordination with the National Coalition of STD directors, she is am actively involved in advancing public health initiatives. Her professional passion lies in addressing global health challenges, particularly in low and middle-income countries and conflict settings, with a special focus on reproductive and maternal health. Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

When Americans and others living in the global north (aka Westerners) think about trafficking, they tend to have an image of a child being kidnapped by a bad guy, and then sexually exploited.  While that is certainly a trafficking issue, there are all kinds of child trafficking.  You may not have heard of orphanage trafficking before today, but it is real and real life horror story happening all around the world, every single day.It is a genuinely horrific idea to contemplate. It is, simply put, the use of children as commodities by using them to bring profit to a business that is characterized as an orphanage through solicitation of donations, inflated adoption fees, and international charitable tourism expenses, and even direct sales of children or child parts. What is it?  How can a child be trafficked into an orphanage?  Or indeed, out of one?  Isn’t an orphanage supposed to be a safe place for - well - orphans? Katie Milazzois a repeat guest on Optimistic Voices, and during Season One of our podcast during November of 2022, she discussed her work with the Child Prosperity Centre. Since that time, the organization she headed up at the time has been transformed and has new supporting organizations, and a new Director, who just happens to be Katie's husband, Johnny Donoghue.   The organization Johnny now heads up is called the Child and Family Permanency Services Centre, and like the program that HCW supports in Sierra Leone, CFPS works to reintegrate children separated from family care back into families, and to strengthen vulnerable families so that they can care for themselves.  CFPS enjoys a stellar reputation in community where they are located, and along with their reintegration work, and because of their focus on child protection issues, have found themselves in a position to witness some pretty terrible orphanage and orphan trafficking in their own community - and have taken steps to address these issues.Katie has stayed in the field of child protection and child welfare, and remained in Sierra Leone. Shd is now a Protection Specialist of Anti-trafficking and Gender Based Violence at World Hope International. World Hope InternationalChild and Family Permanency CentreVideo Presentation by David T. Musa, CRC TCM Senior Consultant on how Family based care models for orphan response can help to disrupt the practice of Orphanage TraffickingHelpingchildrenworldwide.org

Host Dr. Laura Horvath is joined by Short Term Mission Leader for the Teachers' Learning Collaborative,  Sharon Gardner from Grapevine, TexasSharon is the project lead teacher. She has traveled six time to participate in Short Term Mission  in Sierra Leone, every year since 2016 with the exception of HCW's Covid restricted travel period.  Sharon is also a 2018 recipient of the Grapevine-Colleyville Foundation Star Teaching Award Grant and the US team lead author of the shared curriculum developed by the collaborative, and currently the First UMC Colleyville HCW Partnership Representative, working with local Family Advocates supporting family strengthening and empowerment in Sierra Leone . We are hoping to include both the US based lead author, and the African team lead author in the TLC's season 3 episode scheduled for release in September 2024. Helping Children Worldwide program staff worked with the mission team members to produce the program outline and teaching materials for a new kind of short term mission intended to be a model for our future STM deployments.The opportunity to come to Africa to teach summer school to children in an orphanage for a very short time period is different from what teachers used to do when they traveled with HCW. Now teachers work in collaboration with teachers in a different country to develop a train the trainer “in-service” for teachers in Sierra Leone. In SeasonHelpingchildrenworldwide.org

Your Optimistic Voices Podcast Host, Yasmine Vaughan, discusses appropriate training for Short Term Mission (STM) Teams to ensure ethical missions with Guest, Andrea Kroeze. Helping Children Worldwide engages with individuals interested in short and long term missions overseas and provides training for STM deployment.In our Season One episode with Eli Oswald of Faith to Action "Do No Harm" we discussed ethical STMs in orphan response.  In our Season One episode with Tory Ruark of Standards of Excellence "Certified Ethical" we discussed the 7 Standards of Excellence in STM. In today’s Episode, we will talk more about standard 6, appropriate training. An excellent short-term mission prepares and equips all participants for the mutually designed outreach, and is expressed by:         Biblical, appropriate, and timely training         On-going training and equipping (pre-field, on-field, post-field)         Qualified trainersAndrea Kroeze has been on staff with Touch the World since 2004 and currently serves as the Training & Curriculum Coordinator where she finds innovative ways to train and prepare students to serve locally and globally. Andrea is also the Head Instructor of The Missions Academy, an online learning platform that equips people to do short-term missions better. Andrea and her husband Jesse have three children, two of whom were born in Uganda, Africa, when they served as overseas missionaries there for 5 years. In Uganda they learned about life in another culture, more than ever about God, and formed some of the most meaningful relationships of their lives.  While living overseas, Andrea developed a deep love of culture and it’s now one of her favorite topics to learn about and teach.  She’s currently pursuing her Masters degree at Fuller Seminary in Theology and Ministry with a concentration in youth, family and culture.www.touchtheworld.orghttps://shop.touchtheworld.org/pages/missions-resources (Missions devotionals and Re-Entry Journals)www.themissionsacademy.com (online missions training) MissionWorks General Website: https://missionworks.global/MissionExcellence Website: https://missionexcellence.global/7 Standards: https://missionexcellence.global/7-standards/ TTW’s Core Mission Principles For Long-Termers training: https://www.traininternational.org/pre-field Instagram @mamakroezeHelpingchildrenworldwide.org

Dr. Carol McIntosh was born in Brooklyn, NY although her family roots are based in Carriacou, Grenada. She graduated from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction and obtained her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical School in 1987. Dr. McIntosh is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. For many years, Dr McIntosh has served in medical missions to Grenada, the Eastern Caribbean, and Sierra Leone; with the latter working as a board member of Helping Children Worldwide (HCW). In June 2008, Dr. McIntosh was awarded the medal of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by Queen Elizabeth for her work in Grenada. From October 2018 to 2022, Dr. McIntosh served as the Director of Hospital Services with the Ministry of Health and Social Security in Grenada; overseeing 4 hospitals and one Nursing Home. Returning to the US in 2022, Dr. McIntosh remains on the board of HCW while working as an attending physician at InovaCares Clinic for Women in Alexandria and Falls Church, providing prenatal and gynecologic care for uninsured and low-income individuals in Northern Virginia. Today we continue with part 2 of our discussion of medical missions. I would encourage you to go back and listen to part 1 of our episode where we shared Dr. Carol McIntosh’s discussion of this topic at Rising Tides. Now, I am here with Dr. Carol to continue that conversation.  There is a break at 30 minutes - so if your commute is shorter than mine, you can listen to the ad and return for the rest of the episode on your way home tonight! Short-Term Medical Service Trips: A Systematic Review of the Evidence: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056244Health impact assessment and short-term medical missions: A methods study to evaluate quality of care: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2464597/ Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

 At our Rising Tides conference in March, Dr. Carol McIntosh presented on being a giver and a receiver of medical missions. Dr. Carol McIntosh was born in Brooklyn, NY although her family roots are based in Carriacou, Grenada. She graduated from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction and obtained her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical School in 1987. Dr. McIntosh is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. For many years, Dr McIntosh has served in medical missions to Grenada, the Eastern Caribbean, and Sierra Leone; with the latter working as a board member of Helping Children Worldwide (HCW). In June 2008, Dr. McIntosh was awarded the medal of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by Queen Elizabeth for her work in Grenada. From October 2018 to 2022, Dr. McIntosh served as the Director of Hospital Services with the Ministry of Health and Social Security in Grenada; overseeing 4 hospitals and one Nursing Home. Returning to the US in 2022, Dr. McIntosh remains on the board of HCW while working as an attending physician at InovaCares Clinic for Women in Alexandria and Falls Church, providing prenatal and gynecologic care for uninsured and low-income individuals in Northern Virginia. Dr. Carol’s session featured case studies of Sierra Leone and Grenada and provided an examination of the motives of governments, NGOs, individuals, and other providers of global health services and humanitarian aid, as well as the perspective of how these services are received. So, I’m going to share part minutes of her session from Rising Tides, and then in the next episode Dr. Carol and are going to continue this conversation. Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Jennifer Suma Tharmu and Emmanuel “Nabs” M. Nabieu reflect on their shared and individual experiences of being rescued orphans living in a good orphanage, and the good and bad legacies of that childhood.Certified Nursing Assistant at Medstar Hospital.One of the first 40 children recruited and taken to live in the Child Rescue Centre Orphanage at the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War. Jennifer stayed at the orphanage for 10 years. She got access to education, healthcare, and food while also missing connecting with her mom, siblings, and extended family and community. Jennifer is now a care leader that advocates for children to be cared for in safe, loving families.  Listen to Jennifer shares her journey of transformation and struggle of adaptation. Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Yasmine Vaughan shares another incredible breakout session from HCW’s Rising Tides 2023 Together for Global Health.This informative session on the practice of midwifery in low to middle income countries was conducted by Jennifer Stevens.Midwifery centers are a community-based approach to addressing maternal mortality by increasing access to quality care that strengthens health systems, provides an enabling environment for midwifery and eases the burdens on hospital beds by providing right-sized care.  Learn more about this approach, and why it is important.  Jennifer Stevens has worked globally for over 10 years.  Beginning in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, she supported work in Mexico, Peru, Haiti, Niger, Namibia, and much of South Asia with WHO, UNFPA and her NGO, Goodbirth Network. She completed her doctorate in public health, focusing on maternal health in LMIC, specifically midwifery centers as enabling environments for midwifery care.  From 2018-2020, she lived and worked in Bangladesh with UNFPA on their Strengthening National Midwifery Program.  She is co-founder of Good Birth Network (GBN), focusing on a global network of midwifery centers in low resource areas.  Their mission is to support the growth of high quality midwifery centers through standards, education, networking and data collection.  GBN is currently piloting the first accreditation program for midwifery centers in LMICs.  Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

In this episode host Yasmine Vaughan  will be following up on our 2023 Rising Tides Conference, held in Washington, DC in early March. The attendees voted on a session they would like to do a deeper dive into, and this is the session that was chosen from the conference was "localization."So today we are going to talk about localization with Doug Fountain. Doug Fountain serves as Executive Director for Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH). Previously, he was Vice President for Strategy and Impact for Medical Teams International (MTI). Before coming to MTI, Doug served on the executive staff at Uganda Christian University, where he began in 2004 as the head of the Department of Health Sciences and later served as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Development and External Relations. He helped establish the Christian Journal for Global Health to promote evidence-based practice. Doug has been a member of CCIH since 2006 and has served on the board for four years. He holds an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Oregon.PASSING THE BUCK The Economics of Localizing International Assistancehttps://www.usaid.gov/localizationCCIH Conference pageBlog on LocalizationHelpingchildrenworldwide.org

Host Yasmine Vaughan is joined by the Rising Tides Global Health conference support Intern, Tanatswa Sambana to share tidbits of interest they gleaned from the expert presentations at the Rising Tides 2023: Together for Global Health conference, which was held in Washington, DC on March 3-4 2023.  Over the course of a day and a half, conference speakers shared a wealth of information on sustainable practices to care for the most vulnerable, including community participatory practices, and international partnerships to train local communities. Their presentations focused on different ways that organizations can contribute to building a strong healthcare system.  Tanatswa or “T" as we call him at Helping Children Worldwide, is a Master of Public Health candidate at George Washington University. T is interested in utilizing data-driven approaches to positively impact social determinants of health on a national and global level. Tanatswa is passionate about reducing disparities and improving community and global health outcomes. He is skilled in policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and project management, and can use and implement design thinking methodologies. Please check out our other podcast episodes pertaining to global health and the Together for Global Health 2023 conference.Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Certified Ethical!Mission Excellence and Standards for Global Mission DeploymentLast year we did an episode with Ellie Oswald from Faith to Action focused on the importance of ethical missions in regard to the safety and protection of children. In that episode, we talked broadly about ethical approaches to short-term mission trips, and introduced the 7 standards of excellence in mission. On today’s episode, we will go through in more detail these 7 steps and discuss why they are important for churches, charities, and other organizations to consider when doing volunteer mission work. With me today is Tory Ruark from Mission Excellence. Tory is the COO of MissionWorks and Director of MissionExcellence (formerly SOE). He’s been leading mission trips since 2001 and been in his current role since 2016. Tory has served in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Italy and mobilized teams to many other countries. Over the years, he has worked with churches from all over the United States, spearheaded organizational partnerships, and served on the pastoral staff of his church. Welcome Tory!MissionWorks General Website: https://missionworks.global/MissionExcellence Website: https://missionexcellence.global/7 Standards: https://missionexcellence.global/7-standards/Giving Wisely Book: https://amzn.to/3KzLUCTCulture Link: https://culturelinkinc.org/Mission Trip Quick Audit Download: https://missionexcellence.global/free-downloads/short-term-mission-quick-audit/Become a member: https://missionexcellence.global/membership/Standards Introductory Workshop: https://missionexcellence.global/category/workshops/Short-Term Mission Connexion: https://missionconnexion.global/short-term-mission/Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

We can't fix anything if we don't know what's wrong!Your Hosts, Yamine Vaughan and Laura Horvath talk about everyone’s FAVORITE topic - DATA!  Medical professionals understand that monitoring and evaluation is a huge and important part of our work in global health, certainly, but this optimistic voice believes that M&E is as important in the child welfare sector.  It seems that everyone in the sector is struggling with how to find ways to capture data that can really tell us whether our interventions are having a positive impact or not.  Guest Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Neville joins us to talk about the importance of M & E in the field of caring for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, and the challenges in implementing best research practices in the field. In 2022, the Christian Alliance for Orphans created a grant called the Research Challenge Grant. This program was an opportunity for researchers to be connected with a nonprofit doing a promising practice in caring for orphans and vulnerable children. The researcher would conduct a study on that non-profit’s program, write a paper on its outcomes, and share lessons learned. 5 organizations were selected for this first grant, and HCW was one of them. Sarah Elizabeth Neville, PhD, is a post doctoral research fellow at Brown University. She obtained her PhD from Boston college school of social work in 2022, where she conducted her dissertation on children reunifying with family after living in residential care institutions (orphanages) in Kenya. Sarah‘s research is on children and residential care in low- and middle-income countries, including strategies for enabling them to live in safe and nurturing families, preventing them from entering institutions, and enhancing their mental health and well-being. Sarah received her BA and MA in child development from Tufts University. Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

This is the final episode in a series. If you have not listened to parts one and two of Pastor Rob Lough’s interview of Emmanuel Nabieu regarding his memoir My Long Journey Home, you should. Emmanuel Nabieu is the HCW Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership Development - whom we all call Nabs. Warning, the content of the first two episodes can be somewhat disturbing in truthfully depicting the violence that Nabs experienced as a child during the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. Although the interview took place during a single session, we elected to break it into several episodes.  Part Three is the celebratory wrap up of the topic, covering his achievement of a lifelong dream of an education, his triumphant college years, and the decisions he made to return to the orphanage where he spent a decade before being reunited with the family he thought he had lost forever. As the Child Rescue Centre Director, he used his passion and experiences to lead the transition from institutional care to family-based care, to work toward family preservation to eliminate the trauma of separation in the lives of orphans and impoverished families, "fighting the fire, instead of the smoke," as he is fond of saying. Nabs continues to advocate and lead in bringing about that transition all across the continent of Africa and the globe, as part of his commitment to Helping Children Worldwide.I think you will agree with me that Nabs has a vital message to share on the importance of family, and his work to bring this message to the global stage is worthy of attention. His voice is uniquely passionate, vulnerable and inspiring. I hope you will go to Amazon.com and order a copy.It's really good.  Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

This episode is part two of a series. If you missed part one - you should return to the prior episode and listen to it first.  Although the interview took place during a single session, we elected to break it into several episodes. Warning, the content in this and the prior episode can be disturbing as it truthfully depicts the violence  and brutality that Nabs experienced as a child during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Part One takes us from Nab’s early childhood through the time of his initial escape from the rebel soldiers who were hunting him. Part two takes us on his trek through the bush, his time on the streets in Bo, and his ten years in the orphanage.Emmanuel Nabieu is the HCW Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership Development - whom we all call Nabs. We  asked our dear friend, Rev. Rob Lough, former Pastor at Ebenezer UMC and long time supporter of the work being done at HCW, to guest host this episode.  This is a story about resilience and transformation. It is both Nabs’ life story and also a beautiful testimony for hope and overcoming trauma. Nabs is using his experience living in an orphanage to bring global awareness and change to child welfare institutions. He is an example that we as humans can overcome difficult circumstances and use them to create something unexpected and positive. According to Nabs, he wrote this book as a way to address and overcome his trauma. He says that digging back into the past is a hard thing to do but was a huge part of his healing process. Nabs was raised in a rural village in Sierra Leone. His childhood was brutally interrupted by the civil war there when he was about 8 years old. When their village was attacked, Nabs' life was shattered. He initially recalls a bucolic, though impoverished, childhood in rural Africa, where scraping adequate nourishment from their labors was the number one struggle, and he was surrounded by the love of his family and the joys of camaraderie with his boyhood friends. He describes his rural life  as he and his friends begin to explore what it means to follow your dreams, and the wisdom of his elders as they try to imbue his future with hope and resilience.Then he shares how his early life of hope and innocence transformed almost overnight into a nightmarish existence of fear and uncertainty that overtook his entire family.  After hiding together in the bush and in holes dug for latrines at the family farm,  and nearly escaping, a unexpected ambush separates Nabs from his parents, some of whom are murdered before his eyes. Always trying to find his way back to family, he survives without them for months in the jungle, and then on the urban streets of Bo, as the war began to draw to a close. Eventually, he was brought into an orphanage. After living there for 10 years, he was finally reunited with his family. But his story doesn’t stop there. He went to university and after he graduated he returned to the orphanage where he was raised where he later became the Director and used his passion and experiences to lead the transition from institutional care to family based care. He now works for Helping Children Worldwide as the Director for Mission Advancement and Partnership. His work brings this vital message on the importance of family to a global stage.Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

This episode is part one of a series. Although the interview took place during a single session, we elected to break it into several episodes. Warning, the content can be somewhat graphic in truthfully depicting the violence that Nabs experienced as a child during the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. Part One takes us from Nab’s early childhood through the time of his initial escape from the rebel soldiers who were hunting him.Emmanuel Nabieu is the HCW Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership Development - whom we all call Nabs. We  asked our dear friend, Rev. Rob Lough, former Pastor at Ebenezer UMC and long time supporter of the work being done at HCW, to guest host this episode.  This is a story about resilience and transformation. It is both Nabs’ life story and also a beautiful testimony for hope and overcoming trauma. Nabs is using his experience living in an orphanage to bring global awareness and change to child welfare institutions. He is an example that we as humans can overcome difficult circumstances and use them to create something unexpected and positive. According to Nabs, he wrote this book as a way to address and overcome his trauma. He says that digging back into the past is a hard thing to do but was a huge part of his healing process. Nabs was raised in a rural village in Sierra Leone. His childhood was brutally interrupted by the civil war there when he was about 8 years old. When their village was attacked, Nabs' life was shattered. He initially recalls a bucolic, though impoverished, childhood in rural Africa, where scraping adequate nourishment from their labors was the number one struggle, and he was surrounded by the love of his family and the joys of camaraderie with his boyhood friends. He describes his rural life  as he and his friends begin to explore what it means to follow your dreams, and the wisdom of his elders as they try to imbue his future with hope and resilience.Then he shares how his early life of hope and innocence transformed almost overnight into a nightmarish existence of fear and uncertainty that overtook his entire family.  After hiding together in the bush and in holes dug for latrines at the family farm,  and nearly escaping, a unexpected ambush separates Nabs from his parents, some of whom are murdered before his eyes. Always trying to find his way back to family, he survives without them for months in the jungle, and then on the urban streets of Bo, as the war began to draw to a close. Eventually, he was brought into an orphanage. After living there for 10 years, he was finally reunited with his family. But his story doesn’t stop there. He went to university and after he graduated he returned to the orphanage where he was raised where he later became the Director and used his passion and experiences to lead the transition from institutional care to family based care. He now works for Helping Children Worldwide as the Director for Mission Advancement and Partnership. His work brings this vital message on the importance of family to a global stage.Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Today’s episode peels back the curtain to show the considerations that are made by organizations around the world when it comes to building sustainable programs, and for those of you getting into this work, may help you understand some challenges you may face and see some gaps in program planning. Host Yasmine Vaughan is joined by Mariama Massaquoi, a family medicine doctor based in Virginia. Mariama is double board-certified in family medicine and family medicine obstetrics with an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She currently works full-time for the US Army. Mariama and her siblings run an organization called Tenki for Born, a org dedicated to alleviating maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. Tenki began about 2  years ago and has been doing health system strengthening work in Bo, including training midwives, funding clinic improvements, and other activities.Mariama started on this journey to help Sierra Leone from her passion to empower others and transform lives. She and her sister are co-founders of Tenki and are part of the board. Welcome Mariama!Important links:USAID Global Health CoursesPartners in Health Program Management Guidehttps://www.workwithusaid.org/events/rising-tides-2023-together-for-global-healthhttps://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/rising-tides-conference-2023.htmlAs Mariana says,"We maximize our effectiveness by working together."Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Host Dr. Laura Horvath engages in conversation withBrandon StiverSENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS The spiritual side of Orphan Carehttps://1millionhome.com/https://thinkorphan.com/Brandon has worked in the child welfare and nonprofit sectors for over twelve years. Before joining 1MILLIONHOME, he led a family based care and advocacy program in Tanzania for several years. Brandon has also worked at a Tanzanian orphanage, in the Californian foster care system, at various churches and teaches on issues facing at risk children at the university level. He has his Master’s Degree in Global Development and Justice and is passionate about indigenous leadership, community mobilization and seeing global entities come together to deliver the best care for at risk children.Today we’re going to dive deep into an aspect of the work involving care of orphans and vulnerable children that doesn’t often get talked about.  For those of us in what we call “the sector” we talk a lot about the research, and the nuts and bolts of getting kids home, transitioning residential programs like orphanages into models that prioritize family care, engaging with donors, missioners and others in shifting the model and shifting the mindset.  That’s all really important stuff.  What we don’t spend a lot of time talking about is the motivations for getting involved in orphan care in the first place.  We cite the scriptural language we all know - James 1:27, Psalms 68:6,etc.  Today I want to get into something a little more spiritual - the idea of being “called - by God” specifically to this work.  If you talk to people in this space, including those who have built and supported orphanages, they will often tell you that they have answered a “calling.”  As we are coming to understand that orphanages are not the best place for children to grow up, how are we to think about having received a calling that prompted us to build or support an orphanage?  How are we to reconcile these seemingly conflicting ideas?Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Laura, Nabs, Yaz and Melody talk about their love for Helping Children Worldwide, and changing the world together!Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Host Yasmine Vaughan discusses the topic of health disparity in wealthy and poor countries, and wealthy and poor citizens in every country.Special Guest Dr. Aruna Stevens is the Chief medical officer at Mercy Hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone. Dr. Stevens is a graduate of the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences from the University of Sierra Leone. Since joining the staff at Mercy Hospital, Dr. Stevens has transformed the hospital into one of the top medical facilities in Bo, with over 10,000 patients treated every year by his staff. In addition to his duties at Mercy Hospital, Dr. Stevens regularly heads up the medical team assessing patients at the outreach clinics in rural villages surrounding Bo, and serves as associate faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C., USA.Mercy Hospital was first conceived as a joint project of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and Helping Children Worldwide and is part of the UMC medical health ministry in Sierra Leone.Important links:To learn more about the programs offered at Mercy UMC Hospital:Watch:Mercy-programs.html  - Videos on the maternal/infant mortality programs at Mercy Hospital, including vaccinations, prenatal care, child nutrition, labor and delivery,  including surgical interventions such as C-sections.tour-mercy-hospital.html Dr. Stevens acts as a tour guide for his medical facility located in Bo, Sierra Leone in 2020 - prior to significant renovations in 2021 and 2022. (New videos coming soon)READ:About mercy-hospital.htmlEmpower Magazine Winter Issue 2022Empower Magazine Summer 2020To learn more about health disparity and infant mortality in Sierra Leone:Listen to:  Optimistic Voices Podcast Episode Season 1, Episode 6 - CHAMPS. Read:https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/health-inequities-and-their-causeshttps://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/global-health-resources.htmlHelpingchildrenworldwide.org