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 global child welfare and care reform. Our guests discuss how embracing truth required us to chan...

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 discipleship, storytelling, and “what do I do now?” story. We talk with Julie Walton, Head of Research...

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 access to vulnerable kids creates real risk, and what ethical, effective alternatives actually lo...

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 transparent systems, written agreements, and equitable pathways that spread training, decision-making, an...

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 remote communities. "Communities are not like a white paper. They have knowledge of their lives....

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, local authorities connected her with the Child Reintegration Center (CRC). Through counseling ...

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 daily struggle for survival in a community where healthcare was virtually non-existent—where people routinely died f...

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 from traditional charity models that often foster dependence to sustainable approaches that build g...

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 research with the Institute of World History at Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences and his work do...

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 to healing. When Princess first arrived at the CRC, she was understandably confused and frightened. ...

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 the global care reform movement. Stephen Ucembe draws from his lived experience growing up in a Keny...

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 welf...

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...