More than 100 orphaned children, have found themselves in the care of 65-year-old Marie Charline Mutsuva, whose humble hut has become well-known as a haven from the unrest.

She feeds and clothes her makeshift family in her three-room mud home.

She often finds it difficult to support them. Recently, she said, she had to sell the children’s mattresses to pay for medications. Now they all sleep on banana leaves. She manages to cook them rice and beans. At least six of the children attend school, which costs anywhere from $50 to $68 per year, she said.

“Sometimes I have been forced to sell my clothes and pans to pay” for their care, she said. But she said it’s important to be there for the children, who make her feel a part of something bigger.

At the age of 20, Mutsuva cared for her two younger brothers after her parents died. Her husband then left her, 40 years ago, because she couldn’t give him children. Later she began opening her home to orphans.

She calls it her duty to help others who find themselves alone.

People who know of her work bring her new children who can’t find their families. Every Sunday, Mutsuva goes to churches with the children to help find relatives, or goes on radio or national TV to see if anyone can identify them.

Her work is praised by those in Beni. Josephine Kavira Mastaki called Mutsuva a guardian angel.

You can read the full story here and see coverage by several other media outlets here:

https://apnews.com/ae2852b352ef48308b888f179258cfa0

https://m.facebook.com/100001126923596/posts/1730183647029183/

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisHer/videos/1290903881040484/?hc_ref=ARRUihYyG95Wf6VT_aM828YZprxHehZVV0Mk2Eg5oJDCXQEEHSWEpPCUL8TpTy4MPj4

The photojournalist AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO who covered this story and myself SABIHA MAHMOUD are fundraising for Mutsuva and the orphan children to provide them food and to build them a home. The funds will be transferred by the 22nd of June through Kudra who will send videos and pictures to show how your money has helped. Please donate generously and help Mutsuva continue being the guardian angel she is.