TikTok star and humanitarian, Dora Moono Nyambe has died suddenly at the age of 32. Dora tragically passed away on Christmas Day.
Dora found fame after setting up nonprofit charity Footprints of Hope in 2019, and for building a school in Zambia. She documented her journey on social media, gaining 4.2 million followers on her TikTok page and 110K followers on Instagram.
Both accounts were used to announce her tragic death with a statement that read: "It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden departure of our beloved Dora. She will be remembered as a loving mother, heroine, peace philanthropist and an extraordinary woman." The post - shared on December 27 was captioned: The program for the burial for our beloved Dora Moono Nyambe."
Dora, who adopted more than 13 children, raised £350,000 through TikTok and opened a school for underprivileged kids. Dora became an online sensation after sharing videos of her life as a mum-of-15 on TikTok, but being social-media famous was never her goal.
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Instagram)A teacher by trade, Dora was committed to improving the lives of others and when she went to Mapapa, a village in Zambia, in Southern Africa, she was shocked by the number of children she encountered who had no access to education.
She began holding make-shift classes, teaching children under the shade of a nearby tree, then used her TikTok platform to raise money for a local school - and soon the donations came flooding in.
In 2023 Dora managed to raise more than £350,000 ($450,000) and opened her own school - called Footprints for Hope - where she taught around 200 students, providing them with food, and if they need it, a safe place to sleep at night.
Dora previously said: "I came to papa in 2019 to visit with a friend of mine, and that's when I discovered that there was extreme poverty in the village. Kids didn't go to school or even have a place to learn, some would spend a day or two days hungry, so I decided it would be better if I just gave everything up and started a school under a tree.
"I came over with my kids, at that stage I had five, I took all my savings and bought some land and started feeding the kids with the money, and buying school supplies and everything else.
"After that my daughter, her name is Grace, she found out about TikTok and she joined. I registered in my name and she used it to watch videos on my account - then we made a dance video. She was like, 'we should make more videos.'
"I said I can't because I'm not a dance person, but I decided to share a bit of my life - feeding the kids, educating them under a tree, and people were really interested and my account started gaining traction until I was verified.
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Instagram)"I was hesitant to set up a GoFundMe but it was the best decision, people started coming on and helping, sending me gifts, and now we have 12 classrooms and a library, storage room, kids studying two syllabuses, Zambia and Cambridge."
Joseph Schmitt, a Fullbright Scholar and American researcher in Africa, previously joined forces with Dora to tell her story in a book - Under a Zambian Tree. Joseph spent a year shadowing Dora and conducting interviews for the book with the aim of selling 5,000 copies to donate the profits to Footprints of Hope.
Dora was due to be buried on December 28, however the burial will now take place on December 30 "due to unforeseen challenges." A separate post read: "The burial of the late Dora Moono Nyambe, which was initially scheduled for an earlier date, has been moved to Monday afternoon 30 December 2024 due to some unforeseen challenges.
"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding during this difficult time. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has come forward to support us, whether financially or in other forms.
"Your kindness and generosity have been a source of great comfort and strength for the family during this period." A cause of death has not been released. Dora previously revealed she was suffering from a broken leg in a social media update on December 15, but it is not clear if that injury is related to her death.
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