Family first
Homewood and the Republic of Congo may be thousands of miles apart, but that doesn’t keep Wellon Bridgers and the ministry Mwana Villages from caring for kids across an ocean.
“We are a holistic orphan care ministry — holistic meaning when you look at the orphan crisis, it’s not just about the kids,” said Bridgers, who lives in Homewood.
The nonprofit originally started as a Canadian/Congolese ministry and has since become registered in both the United States and France. The ministry cares for children, mothers and anyone else involved and prioritizes family reunification, and Bridgers serves as the U.S. director.
Bridgers first became involved in Mwana after she and her husband had their own negative experience trying to adopt a pair of twins. She said they were told “a complete lie” about the twins’ family situation. They were coming from parents who were married and had teenage siblings, not from a single mother who could not and would not care for her children.
“In the name of what everyone thinks is a good and moral deed … was actually really dark and underhanded and corrupt,” Bridgers said. “And when that came out, I stepped back [and thought], ‘How often are children being adopted that have a family behind them?’”
They didn’t go through with the initial adoption, but in looking for organizations that prioritize family reunification, Bridgers landed on Mwana. The nonprofit is primarily focused on keeping families together first, and finding homes for those in need second. Reuniting families can be messy, she said, but it’s a program that works to build strong families and limit the number of orphans.
Bridgers and her husband learned more about the ministry’s values and loved what it stood for, so they filed paperwork to adopt from Mwana. Now, their youngest two children are adopted from Congo through Mwana, and Bridgers is the U.S. director.
Mwana was first formed between Canadian and Congolese couple Cheryl and Lambert Laki-Laka in 2010 in Canada after they completed a research trip in Congo. In 2014 they opened their first refuge in Congo, Mwana Home, and in 2015 the nonprofit was registered in the United States. Bridgers came on board in July 2016 to help grow the organization, and the nonprofit was registered in France in 2018, too.
“Overall, I kind of think of my role as a bridge builder,” Bridgers said, in helping people understand the “very complex issue that is the orphan crisis.”
She said Mwana works to grant dignity to and work with vulnerable populations to create long-term solutions instead of exploiting the community. “We care for the littles, the bigs and the mommas,” she said.
The “littles” are the infants and toddlers; the “bigs” are adolescents at risk for cyclical generational poverty; and the mothers are typically vulnerable women or widows who are at risk of poverty or pregnant women in crisis.
Bridgers explained that in Congo, if a father dies, his family takes everything — the land, home and money — which can leave a mother and her children with nowhere to go.
Mwana Board of Influencers member Ashley Brigham, also a Homewood resident, said there is often a cultural stigma against people with special needs or disabilities, too.
For newly widowed mothers or families who are trying to work full time, caring for a child, especially one with different needs, can be a huge challenge and they may not have the resources to do so.
“It might not always be a desire [to put a child up for adoption], but a lack of ability to care for them,” Brigham said.
So Mwana steps in to help families get back on their feet and stay together.
“It’s easy for us to say, but I think that’s why Mwana stands there to shake hands with both the children and the mother, and say, ‘We see you, you’re valued, we’d love to come along with you to help you stay unified as a family,’” Brigham said.
That goal is what drew Homewood resident Blakely Barley and her husband to adopt from Mwana.
They had always wanted to adopt but were struggling with their own domestic adoption process. Both knew about the nonprofit before they became directly connected to Mwana, when Bridgers mentioned there was a young boy who needed a family.
“We had loved Mwana for a long time before even thinking of adopting from there,” Barley said. “I just like that adoption is their last situation they look at because that doesn’t always happen in other countries.”
She knew it could take a long time for their future son to come home, but said she would trust the ministry to raise their son until he was able to join them.
“It’s not ever good for a child to be in an orphanage, but of any group, we would pick this one,” Barley said.
Mwana may have ties in three separate countries, but its home base is in Congo.
Bridgers said Congolese are supportive of Mwana and it offers a “blend of Congolese leadership.” The other branches serve as fundraising “legs” and core members of the leadership team. Bridgers said the support from both the Homewood and Birmingham community has developed over the years, too.
Since the first year the U.S. nonprofit was founded, fundraising has quadrupled, Bridgers said, and Barley said the number of children and mothers they serve is growing, too.
Brigham — who brings experience from working with a nonprofit in Uganda — serves as support for the fundraisers. She said she’s seen more and more people learn about Mwana over the years, especially in the Birmingham area.
“I think word gets out about those organizations that really stick to their mission and their [values] … in how they run things,” she said.
Local professionals, such as doctors and counselors, have worked with Mwana to visit their location in Congo and to start creating a partnership with businesses and professionals there, too.
“All of us are motivated by wanting to be a part of change in folks’ lives that are hurting. I feel so confident in the models that we have that we really are seeing profound life change,” Bridgers said.
To learn more about Mwana Villages or to support the nonprofit, visit mwanavillages.org or email Bridgers at wellon@mwanavillages.org.