Empowering communities through impactful programs, our nonprofit is dedicated to creating lasting positive change for those in need.
Located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolingo Village is the heart of Global Orphan Foundation’s mission and a testament to our faith. Guided by the belief that caring for orphans and widows is a profound expression of love and devotion, we follow the teachings of James 1:27, embracing the responsibility to uplift those in distress. By employing widowed women as licensed foster moms and creating nurturing families for orphaned children, we embody our calling to serve “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40), providing children with emotional, physical, and spiritual support.
Bolingo Village offers a foundation of faith-based, sustainable care that extends beyond meeting essential needs. Here, children find not only a home but a haven for spiritual growth, education, and holistic health. With resources like a dedicated clinic for consistent medical care, a farm ensuring balanced nutrition, and clean running water, we prioritize their well-being. Additionally, foster families provide love and guidance grounded in Christian principles, while regular church services, Bible studies, and pastoral counseling nurture their faith and personal growth.
At Bolingo Village, every child experiences the security of a loving family, a vibrant community, and the opportunity to flourish in mind, body, and spirit. This is more than a place to live; it is a community that embodies Christ's love, offering each child an abundant childhood and a hopeful, bright future.
Written By Global Orphan Foundation Ety is our DRC Country Director and the glue that keeps US staff and DRC staff together! He has worked with us since the beginning and we are incredibly lucky to have him on our team. We sat down with Ety recently for him to share some of his thoughts with us. Ety: My name is Ety Muyaya. So, I've been working with GOF for what is now about six years, since 2014. I've been working as a country director. Question: What has been your favorite part of working with GOF? Ety: My favorite part was when I was welcoming these kids here. So, I was proud of myself and proud of the GOF team, the whole GOF team, because I was able to give to those kids a home and an area where they can live - like a community, like a kind of a family. So that's my favorite part of this job. Question: What's the difference between a DRC orphanage and Bolingo Village? Ety: So the difference between a regular orphanage and Bolingo Village is this: in a regular orphanage, kids are sharing beds and sharing everything, and there is not enough space for children. And there is not enough food for children. The children are fighting for one doll. So, there are not enough employees that can take care of children, who can give them love, and can assist them. They are sharing space, sharing food, sharing toys; sometimes there is not enough for them. And they need healthcare. They don’t go to school because there is not someone who can provide for the school. So the difference is simple. In Bolingo Village, we put kids in homes. We give them hope. We build a home, we give them a house. With a foster care mom inside, they can take care of them like they are growing happily in a family. And we are building a community. Those kids can have access to healthcare, because we have a clinic here, and we are taking care of their education; we pay for school for them. That is the main difference between Bolingo Village and orphanages, regular orphanages in DRC. Here, we take care of kids in a different way, because we are trying to build a community, we’re trying to build a big family. They can live inside of a house, inside a home with a foster care mom who can give them love and more attention. Question: What would you say is the main difference between the US and DRC? Ety: So, the US is a developed country. DRC is a poor country. That is the main difference. In the US, you guys have roads, hospitals, schools, you have social security. You are really organized, but here, DRC is not really organized. In the West Division, people don’t have access to healthcare, people don’t have access to school, to education. People don’t have access to jobs, which makes a lot of people abandon their kids. That is a reason why there’s a lot of abandoned kids and orphans. So that is the big difference between DRC and America. Question: How has GOF changed since you started? Ety: In the beginning, GOF started with other projects. We were working on other projects: we were fighting against malnutrition, working with orphanages and trying to provide them with food and plumpy nuts, and some healthcare, to help kids be healthy. At a certain time, that project was working very well. But the point was, these kids still didn’t have homes, they didn’t have access to school, they didn’t have access to healthcare. That is why GOF moved to build this village: to help those kids live in a community, to have access to education, healthcare, and to grow up in a kind of community. Question: Why do you love Global Orphan Foundation? Ety: GOF is really special - it’s very special because it’s changed the lives of many orphans here in DRC. So kids who are living in Bolingo Village, they are not living life like kids living in an orphanage. They're living like people living in a community. Every house here, or every home, has about 8 children with one Mama. So they're living in a regular home, with a mom who can take care of them. They grow up like they’re in a family. I think that is a big change. That’s something very great, which has made the Global Orphan Foundation very special. The other thing that's made Global Orphan Foundation very special is because they give these kids the chance to get educated, to go to school. To be in touch with other kids like normal kids. Kids who are living here in Bolingo Village, they’re living like normal kids. They don't feel like outsiders. They feel like they are living in a family, and they have access to education. And when they are sick, they can have easy access to health care, because there is a clinic in Global Orphan Foundation’s Bolingo Village. There is a big clinic; we have nurses, we have doctors, we have lab technicians. I mean, that is the gift, the big gift that GOF has to offer. And it’s made GOF very, very special for me. And I think for everybody who is living in this village, and also for people who are living around this village, because the clinic is not only for kids who are living inside of the village. It's also for people living outside of this village. They can have access to healthcare, too. Ety is, and has always, done an amazing job. We’re lucky to have him - we wouldn’t be where we are today without his dedication to the kids. Watch his interview below:
Yesterday marked the 20th observance of Orphan Sunday, a day where churches across the globe come together to benefit the world’s most vulnerable children. Together, we strive to defend the cause of the fatherless. Every day that is what we do at Global Orphan Foundation. We look after orphans and widows in their distress as we’re instructed in James 1:27. We do this by employing widowed women to be our foster moms and taking in children who would otherwise end up in unfunded and overcrowded orphanages. Watch the video below to learn more about this remarkable campaign, or click here to help GOF serve more kids through a donation.
I’ll be honest - cooking in DRC can be a little tricky. Certainly much different than the cooking experience we have here in the U.S. It’s HOT in Congo, many don’t have access to electricity and appliances, and the culture surrounding cooking is simply different. Let’s explore what traditional cooking and cuisine are like in DRC! The average household in Congo doesn’t have the option to cook inside. Their houses are often smaller and are not equipped with an oven, microwave, or traditional stove. So how do they cook their food? The Congolese heating source of choice is a good ol’ charcoal fire. Many heat up their food on an open fire, while some use an outdoor cookstove - a small metal stove with a top for charcoal and an open window at the bottom to release heat. Cooking is almost always done outdoors because it is safer and, quite frankly, it’s just too hot to cook indoors. So, what’s on the menu for Congolese? A traditional dish consists of different combinations of chicken or fish with cassava leaves, hot pepper sauce, bananas, rice, peanuts, and palm nuts. They often whip up chikwanga, which is cassava cooked and stored in banana leaves. Of course, we can’t forget about fufu, which is by far the most traditional food I’ve heard of and experienced in Congo. Fufu is a sticky, dough-like staple made from cassava flour. The starch is eaten with soup or stew preparations as it doesn’t have any potent taste of its own. From what I’ve seen at Bolingo, there is almost always a large scoop of fufu on a plate with meat and vegetables cooked in a thin, soup-like sauce. They pick off a piece of the fufu with their hand and dip it in the sauce. It’s DELICIOUS. I love that we typically stick to traditional cuisine in Bolingo Village. Our farmers concentrate on typical Congolese crops such as cassava, corn, peanuts, and leafy greens. Even though we’re able to grow and purchase other items, it’s so important to us that we’re staying culturally relevant. Plus, it’s what the Bolingo families like to eat! When we ask the kids what their favorite food is, almost everyone says fufu and chicken (or soso as they say in Lingala). Even though we have indoor stoves in our houses, most of the foster moms prefer to use their clean outdoor cookstoves. It’s what they know and they LOVE doing it. They truly pride themselves on preparing delicious meals for the kids every single day, and for that, we are most grateful.
Empowering communities through impactful programs, our nonprofit is dedicated to creating lasting positive change for those in need.