Meet Tara Petersen | Executive Director & Life-Long Learner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tara Petersen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, what inspires you?
I am inspired by people who are “all in” and “do for a few what they’d like to do for many.” People who don’t just say they are going to do something to address a problem they see, but actually shape their entire lives around addressing that problem in the ways they are uniquely equipped for.

The Managing Trustees of my organization, John and Colleen Ordelheide, are these kind of people. More than a decade ago they encountered a group of vulnerable and orphaned children on another continent. They knew they couldn’t solve all the problems that created the circumstances those children were in, but they thought perhaps they could help these few.

John and Colleen weren’t rich, or famous, or incredibly educated. But they believed that loving children is the most important job any of us can have. They believed that when “we all do for a few what we’d like to do for many” good things will happen.

They came home and changed everything about their lives, so they could help improve the lives of a few kids in Zimbabwe. That is how Kuda Vana Partnership was born.

What should our readers know about your business?
Kuda Vana Partnership is a non-profit organization that empowers the most vulnerable children of Zimbabwe to not just survive, but thrive. But Kuda Vana is Not Your Typical Orphanage.

“Kuda Vana” means “Loving Children” in the local language of Shona, and “Partnership” signifies our commitment to partnering with local leaders and like-minded individuals and organizations around the world for the benefit of the most vulnerable children of Zimbabwe.

Kuda Vana’s local staff operate a children’s home with four family-style homes and a nursery, along with a campus for young adults pursuing vocational school and college.

I am proud of so many things about our work, including:

1. Growth in the right ways:

When I started at Kuda Vana in 2017, the organization was a small, volunteer-run operation. We have grown in our capacity to positively impact vulnerable children and families in Zimbabwe by staying small and intentional about who we want to be.

Kuda Vana runs a lean ship: I am the sole stateside employee, and my part-time salary is paid by a donor. That means 100% of our supporters gifts go directly to protecting vulnerable children. That’s powerful.

2. Deep vs. Wide Impact:

Instead of being focused on numbers, Kuda Vana’s team is focused on the depth of the impact we can have on a life. When you stay small and “do for a few what you’d like to do for many”, you can truly walk alongside individuals in their journey, infancy through young adulthood. Kuda Vana has several college graduates who came to us as orphaned children. Other young adults are currently studying social work in university in order to help others who are experiencing what they did as children. That’s impact!

3. Addressing the problem:

Kuda Vana is committed to being a part of the solution, not the problem when it comes to orphan care. 80% of children across the globe in residential care actually have family that can care for them if given the right support. We are constantly engaging in ways to support families in parenting, encourage local adoption and safely reunify children with family. In fact, in recent years we have safely reunited 13 children with biological family, placed 9 in adoptive homes and 7 in loving foster families! This then creates more space to provide children in need of immediate safety.

Kuda Vana is truly Not Your Typical Orphanage. Our approach is simple, but in truth the work is messy, nuanced and difficult.

1. Prevention: supporting vulnerable families and helping keep families intact through the Family Assistance Program, which provides seeds, food, and other support to impoverished families in two regions of Zimbabwe.

2. Rescue: providing a safe, loving environment for vulnerable children in immediate need. Kuda Vana partners closely with Zimbabwe Social Services and only accepts children who do not have safe relatives they could be placed with.

3. Rehabilitation: nurturing the whole child through counseling, education, medical care and love within a “family unit” in four group homes and a nursery on our Children’s Home campus. Our staff receive annual trauma-informed training.

4. Reunification and adoption (when possible): prioritizing safe family reunification, domestic adoption and foster care through our FAMily Program. In recent years we have adopted out 9 children, placed 6 in foster families in reunified 13 with biological family.

5. Residential care (when necessary): Kuda Vana Children’s Home provides the best possible home for children who do not have other options. We are committed to maintaining a relatively small operation in order to provide the level of personal care every child deserves. Kuda Vana has been hailed as one of the best in the region, enjoying a visit by the First Lady of Zimbabwe in 2022.

Learn more at www.kudavana.org

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I work and live in Highlands Ranch, but my heart is in Zimbabwe! If I were to take you there, we’d start off by walking the streets of Harare in October lined with jacaranda trees blooming in purple. Purple blossoms fall and cover the ground like purple snow. It’s magical.

Then we’d take a drive through the country-side. We’d stop along the way to chat and buy fresh tomatoes and peppers stacked in baskets from women with big smiles and sleeping babies tied on their backs. We’d snack on corn nuts sold in plastic bags by children on the side of the road, running alongside the car until we stop.

We would drive up and up and over Christmas pass, with hazy views of baobab trees and rock kopjes, where you can imagine lions curled up during the heat of the day. The road would soon turn to dirt, and we’d see glimpses of the lake beyond the acacia trees as we traveled towards Kuda Vana.

Soon, there would be smiling staff and children greeting us. A simple meal of sadza (a traditional paste made of cornmeal and water) and tomato and greens soup, perhaps some free-range chicken, would be shared. Songs would be sung as the sun dropped over the horizon, golden light illuminating this beautiful country.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I had a very short list of things I never wanted to do in my career. At the top of it was building and leading a small non-profit organization whose sole purpose was to help vulnerable children.

It felt too all consuming, too risky, too personal. I had a great job at a large, established nonprofit with a big team and a bigger budget. But when you feel the God of the Universe prompting you, it’s hard to ignore.

Thankfully, my husband, Erik Petersen of Life After Loss Counseling, never faltered in supporting me in such a risky switch. He encouraged me to take the leap, and reminded me that we are only fully living when we are growing. He is the person that calms my nerves when I am panicking over triple-digit hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, or waking up in the middle of the night worrying about a particular child in our care.

Website: www.kudavana.org

Instagram: @Kudavana

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KudaVanaPartnership/