Our Mission
Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by empowering children in underprivileged communities. We focus on three core pillars: education, healthcare, and sustainable community development.
Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by empowering children in underprivileged communities. We focus on three core pillars: education, healthcare, and sustainable community development.
Through child sponsorship, donors make a direct impact, providing school supplies, meals, medical care and mentorship to children in need.
Bolingo Village has had our eye on ensuring each kiddo has access to the spiritual and emotional care that they need and deserve since we opened. To that end, we have a pastoral team and a trauma counselor. A few weeks ago, the pastoral team and trauma counselor came together to discuss what they could do together that would best benefit the village. Their solution: help heal our foster moms. As a mom, I know how difficult it can be to feel the weight of raising a child. I say this knowing that I have all the support and benefits of doing so in the US, with little personal trauma, and all the luxuries that privilege can offer. Our Foster Moms don’t have the same reality. These women have grown up in a culture that does not value them. They have trauma and histories that don’t easily lend themselves to being warm and empathetic - but they do their best for our kiddos. I’ve said it many times - these women are the backbone of Bolingo. They set the tone for life in the village. They support our kiddos. They are the ones that can genuinely and consistently help our kiddos heal from their trauma. I’m thrilled that their emotional care is front of mind for our staff on the ground. Now, in addition to one-on-one sessions with the counselor and weekly bible study, they will have a monthly “support group”. They’ll come together and discuss how they’re doing, what has challenged them, and what from their past may have caused that issue. These sessions will encourage our Foster Moms to lift each other up and, with the support of the counselor and pastoral team, to heal and grow for themselves and the children of Bolingo Village.
Every trip to Bolingo Village brings an opportunity to notice moments. Sometimes, these moments are beautiful. Sometimes they’re funny. Sometimes, they’re things of note that need addressing. It’s incredible to realize that I have more and more time to spend observing the small things with each passing trip. In my mind, this means that we’re really doing it! Bolingo Village is up and running on its’ own. There are no catastrophic realizations or major fixes that need to happen anymore. Now, it’s all about fine-tuning. How can we make the most significant impact on each child rather than the village as a whole? What I noticed on this trip is that the reality of caring for orphaned children is more challenging than expected. Kids who have experienced significant trauma can often struggle with behavioral issues that differ from the norm. Now that we have 44 children, it’s become evident that our foster moms may not be fully equipped to handle our kids’ struggles. Sure, our foster moms are all mothers to their own biological children. They’re all social services certified professionals. They have all fostered before. The reality is that this is a whole new ball game. This is not to say that our kids aren’t happy or that our moms aren’t trying their absolute best. For any adoptive parents reading, you understand that the trauma of losing your parents, being abandoned, or suffering abuse creates a lasting impact on a child. Their brains have been wired for survival, and it can be tough for the brain to get out of that fight or flight mentality. Equally problematic is understanding the best way to communicate with a child exhibiting behavior consistent with a traumatic past. Multiply that by 8 kids, and you have what our foster moms are working with. Luckily, we have put things into motion to get our foster moms training to educate them specifically on trauma-based care. This training will be ongoing and intimate. It will allow our moms to ask specific questions, go through personal scenarios, and gain the tools to help them understand what their foster kids are going through. We’re very hopeful that this will be an impactful step in the healing process for our sweet kiddos. Every child deserves an opportunity to heal from a past that they never should’ve had in the first place.
Empowering communities through impactful programs, our nonprofit is dedicated to creating lasting positive change for those in need.