A TikToker Fosters Over 150 Kids In A Remote Village In Zambia & Here's What Her Day Is Like
"I felt that I needed to come back."
Dora Moono Nyambe in her TikTok video. Right: The kids that Nyambe fosters in Zambia.
This article is part of Narcity’s Remote Living series, which profiles people living in surprising places or situations. Have a story to tell? Get in touch with asymina.kantorowicz@narcity.com.
Can you imagine leaving your career plans behind, moving to a remote village with no running water and fostering over 150 kids?
Few people would be able to answer that question with a yes, but Dora Moona Nyambe is one of them.
In 2020, the young woman moved to the rural village of Mapapa in Zambia where she opened a school and began taking in children who needed help. Now she shares her daily adventures via TikTok, where she's built a legion of followers who are into her incredible story.
"The first that I bought was land and I had savings for about six months that would last me and my five kids at the time," she told Narcity.
Nyambe had planned to go to China to teach English, but she says a previous trip to Mapapa showed her the sad reality many children were living in.
She heard of teen girls being married off in exchange for money and others living in abusive households.
"I came here, saw the kids, saw how much poverty there was [...] the lack of education, the lack of awareness of how bad it was or how wrong it was to marry off kids and things like that," she explained. "I just felt very drawn, very heavy, like this burden in my heart. I felt that I needed to come back."
Now at 30 years old, Nyambe has managed to significantly improve daily life for the dozens of children in her care, and she's not ready to slow down anytime soon.
Here's what her life is like.
Nyambe has adopted 13 kids and fosters over 150
@doramoononyambe Replying to @v.j046133 I know it’s not enough but we make it work. I can’t leave them out because we don’t have enough beds. #nooneleftbehind #doramoononyambe
Nyambe has adopted 13 children, her youngest being born in November.
She fosters over 150 kids and will continue to do so until they are 18 years old.
"After they're 18, they're adults," she said. "They can choose either to stay and continue here or if they want to do something else."
As for how she rescues kids, Nyambe says that varies. Sometimes she'll hear about it through the grapevine or someone will come to her to say a child needs help.
"We will have kids that are in marriages, we'll have starving kids, some would be literally dead [if they were not rescued] because the situations that we got them in were not the best," she explained.
Nyambe says she has a "ton more kids" to rescue, but they don't have the resources for all of them yet.
Nyambe started her school under a tree
@doramoononyambe This is what you guys love does. It gives a fighting change to children who would not have had an opportunity to make it in this world. #thankyou
When Nyambe first got to Mapapa she opened a school outside under a tree.
In one of her videos, she shows what educating the kids looked like back then, with the kids using rocks to learn how to count.
"We have grown from a school under a tree to a school that has 12 classrooms, a computer lab (and a) library," she says.
"We have a huge dining hall. We have two safe homes, one for the girls and for the boys. The girls' one is much bigger because they're more at risk."
She says they're currently building another house for the girls because of high demand.
Nyambe starts making breakfast for all the kids at 5 a.m.
@doramoononyambe Replying to @GoggleGhostLeader thank you every for helping me raise the babies
Many people on TikTok are curious as to how Nyambe feeds all the kids she cares for and she admits it's a lot of work.
The 30-year-old says the children get three full meals a day and three snacks.
As you can expect, it takes a while to prepare the food every single day, which is why she gets started at 5 a.m.
Travelling to buy food takes hours
@doramoononyambe Its gone in a week
Not only does it take a while to prepare meals, but Nyambe says getting the food itself can take a long time.
"I have to drive hours — literally four or five hours — to get food," she explains. "Sometimes I have to drive like a whole day to Lusaka [the capital city] and get the food that we need."
There was no running water when Nyambe moved to the village
@doramoononyambe There is water everywhere but is it clean healthy water?
Nyambe recounts that when she first moved to the village of Mapapa they didn't have access to clean drinking water, although thankfully they do now.
However, internet access remains unstable.
For example, Nyambe says she had to climb a hill and hold up her phone to send voice notes to Narcity for this interview.
"We literally have very, very few things that are accessible to us right now."
They are also currently working on building a hospital in the village to bring better access to healthcare for the people living there.
Nyambe makes sure to spend quality time with the kids
@doramoononyambe The #ChaChingSummerCamp by @Prudential Life Zambia is made to help children understand FinancialLiteracy. Our kids were invited which was amazing! #ChaChing #FinancialLiteracy
With so much on her plate, we asked Nyambe what a day for her looks like and she said every one is different.
"Some days I wake up and take a child to the hospital. Some days I wake up, make food for my kids, get them ready, the whole lot. Then I go to school, deal with whatever's happening there with the kids."
Other days Nyambe spends going into town to buy supplies and food.
She also makes sure to spend time with her adopted children as well as those she fosters.
"I go over there to read or watch a movie or have a dance party or play games," she added.
"It's very different day to day. I don't think I've ever had (...) a consistent routine."
Nyambe has people who work with her
@doramoononyambe It takes a village to raise a child
If you're wondering how she gets everything done, Nyambe commends her team of about 35 people whom she employs to help her with the kids.
"From teachers to aunties [...] the ones that help me with the kids, cooking and things like that."
She wants her kids to have a proper childhood before they become adults
@doramoononyambe I let them help if the want to help.
Nyambe says the kids help out with meals if they want to, but she doesn't expect them to help with everything.
That's because she says they have already been through a lot and she wants them to just enjoy being children.
When asked about the kids helping in the comments of one of her TikTok videos, Nyambe responded saying: "They have school which is an entire day. They have had to be adults until coming here so I don’t force them unless they offer to help."
As a young, single woman, Nyambe's work puts her at risk
@doramoononyambe The amount of times I have had this conversation 🙄
Nyambe says being a single, young woman puts her at risk in her society and others often don't take her seriously, whether it's in the village or when she goes into a government office.
"It's very confusing for people that have never seen anybody that looks like me, is a female, is doing what I'm doing. So they come up with so many different stories and so many different justifications of how I'm able to afford this," she said.
Her TikTok videos help bring awareness and donations
Nyambe doesn't get any government support and she also doesn't get paid for her TikTok videos.
She says the videos help her bring in donations through her GoFundMe page, which is what she uses to take care of all the children.
"I have had such an overwhelming positive response and I believe people like authenticity, just showing what's happening," she tells Narcity. "People are really drawn to that."
People can also send in donations like books and toys, which often get big reactions from the kids on TikTok.
Anyone who is interested in sending her donations is asked to email her first. You can find her email address on her TikTok page.
A book is being written about Nyambe
@explorewithjoe Pre-sale is LIVE!! @Dora moono Nyambe and I are so proud of what we have created💚📖 Link in bio #underazambiantree #author #lifewithdora #explorewithjoe
Joesph Schmitt, an American researcher living in Zambia, is writing a book about Nyambe titled Under A Zambian Tree.
According to the book's website, the two met over TikTok and quickly became friends. They have worked together over the past year on the book.
"Shortly after meeting Dora, I knew that her story needed to be shared globally through a book. Video could never capture the magnitude and complexity of what she was accomplishing," Schmitt writes on the website.
The book will be released on February 7, 2023 and is available for pre-sale.
The goal is to sell 5,000 copies and 100% of the proceeds from those sales will go towards helping the kids and the NGO Footprints of Hope, which Nyambe founded.
Nyambe hopes for a bright future for her kids
@doramoononyambe Replying to @Sophie. Conlin💗💗 Who wouldn’t be 😂
Nyambe says she has big dreams for all the kids she has adopted and fostered.
She tells Narcity that she hopes the kids will grow up and get as high as they can "in their education and in their dreams."
She also hopes they will grow up and help others.
"My dream [is] that they will be kind, good, caring individuals that don't only care about themselves, but care about the world as well."