Safety
A secure, permanent home where children sleep without fear and wake with possibility. Physical safety is the first foundation of emotional healing.
About Mutende
Built by friendship.
Held by peace.
Mutende Children's Home was built through friendship, shared purpose, and a belief that every child deserves a safe and loving place to call home.
Our story
It started with a trip, and a person who changed everything.
Ilyssa first traveled to Zambia through her foundation, Growing Hearts of Africa, during the construction of its first school. It was there that she met Jonathan.
From the very beginning, there was an immediate connection — rooted in shared values, compassion, and a deep passion for helping children and strengthening communities.
Jonathan quickly became an essential part of the vision for Mutende. As our boots on the ground in Zambia, his kindness, selflessness, and unwavering dedication continue to shape the heart of this mission every single day.
The friendship
Some bonds are formed in a single day — and last a lifetime.
Ilyssa and Molly's story began on the very first day of college, where a friendship instantly formed and has remained unbreakable ever since.
Over the years, they always shared a desire to create meaningful impact and help others in whatever way they could.
When Ilyssa invited Molly to join her in building Mutende Children's Home, it was an easy answer. What started as a shared dream quickly became a shared mission: to create something lasting, hopeful, and life-changing for vulnerable children in Zambia.
Why Mutende?
Mutende means peace.
To us, peace means creating a place where children feel safe, supported, nourished, and deeply loved — a place where they can simply be children and dream about the future ahead of them.
Our mission
A home that grows its own future.
Today, Mutende Children's Home is working to build more than just an orphanage. We are creating a self-sustaining home and farm where children can grow up surrounded by peace, stability, opportunity, education, and love.
Because every child deserves the chance to build a brighter future.
Our approach
Six commitments. One promise of peace.
Every decision we make is held up by these six pillars — a framework built from listening to the children, the community, and our own hearts.
Love
Not a posture or a tagline — daily, ordinary, consistent love is the foundation of everything we do. Every child deserves to feel chosen.
Stability
Children flourish when they know tomorrow looks like today. Permanence is the gift we lead with — the same caregivers, the same routines, the same bed.
Education
Schooling, tutoring, and mentorship so each child can author their own path. Education is the bridge between circumstance and choice.
Sustainability
A working farm that feeds the home and funds its operation. When the land thrives, the children thrive — for decades, not just donor cycles.
Empowerment
Skills, confidence, and agency so every child grows into an adult who shapes their own community. We are not rescuers. We are partners.
60–80%
Of operating costs covered by the farm
365
Days a year of food security
10+
Local jobs created by the farm
The vision
Self-sufficiency is the greatest gift we can give.
Within the next decade, our goal is for the farm to supply 60–80% of the food and operating income the home needs. That way, the children's care is never at the mercy of any one donor, season, or moment in time.
We are planting crops that feed bodies and futures. We are building greenhouses that outlast election cycles. We are training local staff who will lead this work long after the founders have passed the torch.
Sustainability is not a buzzword here. It is a promise to every child who walks through our doors: we will still be here when you are grown.
Join us
There is a real place for you in this work.
However you arrive here — through a foundation, a fundraiser, or a class project — you can help build something that lasts.
Donate
Every gift becomes a meal, a lesson, a roof. 100% of donations go directly to the children and the land that sustains them.
Give TodayFundraise
Host a dinner, run a race, or start a birthday campaign. The best advocates for Mutende are people who believe in the mission.
Start a fundraiserShare the mission
Tell one person about Mutende today. Word of mouth is how movements grow — and how children find their way home.
Follow updates
Quiet, occasional notes from the farm and the home. No noise — just real progress and the stories that make it matter.
Read storiesFor donors and kids helping kids.
However you arrive here — through a foundation, a fundraiser, or a class project — there is a real place for you in this work. Every contribution, no matter the size, is a seed of peace.
Support Mutende