When Zambian teacher Dora Moono Nyambe started posting videos on TikTok three years ago, she had to ask her daughter's 13-year-old friend how to use the popular social media platform. Understanding Grief Therapy: A Deep Dive with Andrea Santiago | The Vibe With Ky Podcast October 8, 2023

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The trolling used to bother me a ton. But with everything comes growth ... I know I am not using the children and if people came to Mapapa, they would see it too." I had no idea when I first started using TikTok - so I just started showing how life in the village was," Nyambe told Context via video call from the Zambian capital Lusaka. Most comments are positive, but on almost every post, there will be a comment where I am accused of being a scammer, stealing money or exploiting the children," she said. Nyambe said she has had to negotiate with villagers to allow their children to attend school, and has rescued many girls from child marriages - often having to reimburse the families for the cost spent on their weddings. Nyambe's charity funds the school, and also supports rural children through food distribution, clothing drives and health assistance.Soon she began documenting her life on TikTok: creating videos of her cooking or dancing with her students, buying food for her children, and having conversations with them about issues from climate change to child marriage. Our goal is to sell 5,000 copies, of which 100% of the proceeds go directly to Footprints of Hope. This book not only shares an incredible true story, but inspires us to drive grassroots change in our own communities. We are so proud of our amazing team that has helped spread awareness and maximize our impact with this book. While some critics have accused her of so-called "charity porn" - meaning using media that exploits the lives of vulnerable people to generate donations or publicity - Nyambe said she should be judged by the impact of her work.

Under a Zambian Tree - Facebook Under a Zambian Tree - Facebook

Trust Conference is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s flagship annual event, taking place in the heart of London each year. Find out more. Nyambe's videos now attract tens of thousands of views - even drawing the attention of U.S. popstar Meghan Trainor, who shared one of Nyambe's videos of the school dormitories set to Trainor's hit song "Made you look". With her savings and her then five adopted children, Nyambe moved to Mapapa, bought a plot of land, and started teaching the village children under a tree in the hope that she would eventually be able to build a school. Jorge Alvarez and I enjoyed attending the first ever Non-Sewered Sanitation Conference and traveling to Cape Town to join GreenCape for a CBS knowledge share. Looking forward to putting our knew knowledge into practice, innovating within the WASH space. Another impending challenge is a possible ban of Chinese-owned TikTok in the United States, from where she gets most of her followers and donations.

'Charity porn'

Join me as I interview the author of Under a Zambian Tree, Joseph Schmitt. Watch as he chronicles Dora’s quest to educate her nation.