Who We Are
We love coming together as a team to see the goodness of God on display in our lives.
Tutela is made up of the foster families and the support staff, starting with the youngest child and going up to the oldest parent.
Tutela also includes the community of families in Maputo who receive support and training to help their children. We have staff and volunteers in both Mozambique and the UK, including our trustees - these wonderful individuals and churches give their time and resources to make our work possible.
At the heart of our work is a love for God and a passion for the people of Mozambique
Our Story
In 2005, Jonny and Becky Wakely followed a long-held desire to help those living in poverty. They left behind their cosy lives in England and headed to the dusty chaotic city of Maputo, Mozambique. It was an eye opening experience to witness the struggle for survival that many families and children face every day. Working with Iris Ministries, a large children’s centre on the outskirts of the city, they saw first hand, the plight of vulnerable children in Maputo who have lost the safety of a family home. During their time at the centre, they also saw God’s hand at work in the midst of these vulnerable children, where a sense of heavenly grace and compassion were clearly present to support to those who were suffering. After seven years with Iris Ministries, Jonny and Becky became convinced to pursue a new direction for Maputo children and Tutela Africa was born to offer family-style care with Mozambican mums and dads.
Tutela was launched in 2015 and we started by running three successful parenting courses to help Maputo parents offer stronger care for their children. Off the back of these courses, we identified our first foster carers and in 2018, they were ready to have children placed with them. Seb and Rida became carers to six children who all live with them today as a settled family unit in Maputo. Our second foster couple, Fabio and Isabel began their fostering career in 2021 and have five children in their care. The team is now growing in size and confidence as the children in both foster families show wonderful signs of transformation and renewed hope. Plans are now afoot to expand our parenting courses as well as find new carers for our third foster family.
Our Vision
The team at Tutela envision a world in which all children belong in safe and happy family homes, cared for by parents who can raise them in a loving way, where hope abounds and strong family bonds are formed.
At the centre of our work is the belief that a positive family experience is exactly what every child needs. It gives them the foundations on which to build a successful life and instills a resillience to overcome all kinds of challenges.
Our beliefs stem from our faith as Christians, that God is a gracious and compassionate heavenly Father who takes care of his children and gives them hope and a stable future. We seek to reflect a passage from the book of Psalms that says:
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing.”
