Strongheart House - to be opened early 2009 - is a home and center of healing, learning, and excellence for exceptional young people either displaced or orphaned by war or other circumstance.

Strongheart House is located in a once-beautiful 12 bedroom home in lovely Robertsport, Liberia on the west coast of Africa. The house was neglected and looted during years of civil war and requires a complete makeover. The house is being renovated by teams of volunteers and will be completely offgrid and offline - utilizing all-green technology.

Residents of Strongheart House have all expenses paid while living at the house and will attend our in-house Strongheart School. Innovative thought leaders and changemakers from around the world are invited to visit Strongheart House to learn and teach about crucial issues and challenges faced by the Strongheart Fellows and the community in which they live. Ongoing think-tanks, working groups, and salons bring a continuous influx of dynamic people and innovative projects into the House.

Strongheart House Liberia is a crucial element of transforming Strongheart principles into tangible results, creating a microcosm of a "world that works."

The first seven Strongheart House residents have been identified. They are all exceptional young Liberians who have been living as refugees in neighboring countries. The first Strongheart Fellow, Lovetta Conto, is among them - along with the Freeman family - a family of five orphaned refugees currently living in Ghana.

The Freeman Family

The story of the Freeman family is remarkable in that they have stayed together as a family against incredible odds after the death of their mother - and have worked together in a business that they started after her death and run within the refugee camp. Their tenacity, resourcefulness, and intelligence is amazing. Plans are underway to repatriate them to Liberia in preparation of the opening of Strongheart House.

Kizzy & Etienne N’golo, House Parents

Kizzy and Etienne have dedicated their life together to serving the children of the world with love and appreciation. Together they have over 15 years of experience working with children all over the world. The last five years they have been focused on working with under-served youth in the U.S., Nigeria, Brazil, Belize, and Jamaica. They have been co-teaching numerous classes within the public school, summer school, summer camp, and home school communities.

Kizzy and Etienne have experience conducting programs for youth that involve group therapy, self-healing, peace talks, dance, music, nutrition and disease prevention cooking, space beautification, art, filmmaking, and community service.

Kizzy has a background in teaching children’s art and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001 from Whitman College in Washington State. She has been working with children and doing community art projects for over 14 years. She recently created the United We Grow global mural movement which has been painting murals with children around the world for the last three years. She is currently the Director of Youth Program’s at the Amala Foundation and the Capoeira Angola teaching assistant to her husband. She has teamed up with her husband to offer a life of joyful service to the children of the world.

Etienne has a background in film and African cultural dance and musicality and has been focused on serving the impoverished East Austin community for the past 8 years. In 1999 he helped establish one of the first alternative healing bookstores in East Austin called Project Life. He is currently the Capoeira Angola teacher at the Mexican American Cultural Arts Center of Austin and the Co-Director of the Youth Programs at the Amala Foundation. For the past five years he and his wife Kizzy have been focused on inspiring and empowering children locally and internationally.