Optimistic Voices

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people want to help vulnerable children, but few of us stop to ask the hardest question: what if we are the problem? Our support of children in adversity could be fueling family separation and making the situation worse. Dr. Laura Horvath sits down with Dr. Rebecca Nhep (Better Care Network) and Elli Oswald (Faith to Action Initiative) to unpack “radical courage” in globa...

Send us Fan Mail Home can disappear in a single night but the memory of it can keep you alive for years. We sit down with Emmanuel Mohammed Nabieu, known as Nabs, to begin a multi-part Child’s View journey that starts before conflict, before separation, and before survival becomes the only goal. Nabs takes us to Sami, his small village in Sierra Leone, where everyone is family, children learn by w...

Send us Fan Mail Ninety percent of US Christians agree children thrive best in families. So why do so many of us still send money to orphanages and residential care? The latest Barna study puts real numbers on a problem we can’t hand-wave anymore: 28% of Christians report supporting orphanages or children’s homes, totaling an estimated $4.5 billion a year. That’s not a villain story. It’s a discip...

Send us Fan Mail Trust isn’t a slogan when children’s safety is on the line—it’s a discipline. We sit down with Naomi Schalm, Executive Director of Trust for Africa in Lesotho, to unpack what radical trust really requires in cross-cultural child welfare: honest power-sharing, rigorous accountability, and local decision rights that outlast any single grant. Lesotho is moving toward family-based car...

Send us Fan Mail The smiling photos, the painted walls, the “we came to help” posts—so much of orphanage tourism looks uplifting on the surface. But pull on the thread and a harder truth emerges: when volunteers are the customers, children become the product. In this conversation with filmmaker and activist Barak Laub, we uncover how feel-good trips can fuel orphanage trafficking, why unqualified...

Send us Fan Mail What if the fix for burnout, donor fatigue, and stalled partnerships isn’t another webinar, but a better conversation? We sit down with Tasha Van Vlack, founder and CEO of Nonprofit Hive, to unpack how simple one-to-one matchmaking helps nonprofit pros feel seen, swap solutions, and spark collaborations that actually stick. From role-based pairing to safety-in-strangers design, Ta...

Send us Fan Mail What if your partnership model unintentionally silences the very people it’s meant to elevate? We sit down with Asia Blackwell, executive director of Maya Midwifery, to unpack how a well-intended collaboration in Guatemala drifted toward hierarchy by over-rewarding a few “standout” leaders while leaving many midwives underpowered. Asia lays out how they rebuilt trust with transpar...

Send us Fan Mail A center for indigenous birthing practices grew out of an expatriate's dream and was realized as a thriving hub for Indigenous midwives in Guatemala. The ground shifted when a model of local ownership and global alliance collided with personal greed. Executive Director Asia Blackwell unpacks the full arc: early wins rooted in trust, warning signs revealed by governance traini...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when we stop viewing rural communities as problems to be fixed and start recognizing them as powerful agents of their own transformation? The answer unfolds beautifully in this eye-opening conversation with Aminata Kamara and Sheku Mohamed Gassimu Jr. from One Village Partners (OVP), a Sierra Leonean organization revolutionizing how sustainable development happens in...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Hunter Farrell challenges everything you thought you knew about short-term missions with compelling insights drawn from his 30+ years of global mission experience and anthropological research. He reveals startling statistics about our mission economy: American Christians spend $3.5-5 billion annually sending 1.6 million people on short-term trips, yet often these efforts fall...

Send us Fan Mail The remarkable journey of an 11-year-old girl named Em demonstrates the life-changing power of cross-border collaboration in child protection. When Em was trafficked from her home in Liberia to Sierra Leone under false promises of education, she instead found herself forced into domestic labor and street selling. After becoming separated from her trafficker and lost on the streets...

Send us Fan Mail What does it really mean to empower people? Beyond buzzwords and good intentions lies a complex reality that social impact organizations grapple with daily. This conversation with researchers Dr. Thomas Crea and Dr. Sarah Neville dives deep into the messy, thought-provoking questions that challenge conventional thinking about empowerment. The discussion takes us beyond simplistic...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when tragedy and opportunity collide in the life of a child? Dr. Aruna Stevens' story answers this question with breathtaking resilience and hope. Born just before Sierra Leone's devastating civil war, Aruna's childhood was shattered when his father was killed and his extended family of twenty separated. He experienced homelessness, hunger, and the dail...

Send us Fan Mail What makes some children overcome unimaginable trauma while others struggle to recover? Is resilience something you're born with, or can it be cultivated? These questions drive our fascinating conversation with Dr. Nicole Wilke, author and Director of Research at Christian Alliance for Orphans. Drawing from her extraordinary background—growing up in a family that fostered 70...

Send us Fan Mail The difference between helping and hurting often comes down to one critical question: are we empowering and dignifying people or creating dependencies and disabilities? In this eye-opening conversation with Sheree Reece, Global Missions Director for a UMC Mega Church - Church of the Resurrection, Laura and Yaz unpack the profound shift happening in mission work worldwide—moving fr...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a struggling father refuses to let disability define his family's future? Hannah Smith's remarkable story reveals the transformative journey from family separation to triumphant reunion in post-war Sierra Leone. Hannah's story begins in hardship—her disabled father, a determined blacksmith, made the heartbreaking decision to place his children in a...

Send us Fan Mail The systematic abduction and militarization of Ukrainian children by Russian forces represents one of the most devastating yet underreported aspects of the ongoing war. In this eye-opening conversation, Ukrainian historian and religious scholar Vladyslav Havrylov reveals the shocking scope and calculated nature of Russia's deportation campaign targeting Ukrainian youth. His r...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered what life is really like for families living on the edge of extreme poverty? Most of us have only seen poverty through statistics or images, but a new immersive experience called "Rooted in Reality" is changing how we understand this complex reality. When a team of college students traveled to Sierra Leone to develop this groundbreaking poverty simulation,...

Send us Fan Mail Princess was just six years old when someone finally spoke up about the abuse she was suffering. That brave act by a Child Reintegration Center alumnus became the first link in a chain of compassionate interventions that would transform her life. Reverend Olivia Fonney, Director of the Child Reintegration Center in Sierra Leone, takes us through Princess's journey from trauma...

Send us Fan Mail The global movement to transition children from orphanages to families is gaining momentum, but significant challenges remain. In this thought-provoking episode, David Titus Moussa hosts a conversation with Stephen Usembe, a care leaver and founder of Kenya Society of Care Leavers, and Phil Aspergren, executive director of Casa Viva in Costa Rica, as they unpack key insights from...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

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 sev...

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 "Congre...

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...

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. Jaw...