Wildflowers International was founded by a mother-daughter team with a shared belief that children belong in families and that communities already hold incredible strength and potential when given the support they need to thrive.

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Kristianna first traveled to Uganda in 2012 to volunteer in a children's home. What she expected to find, and what she actually discovered, were very different. She met children who were deeply loved by their families, yet separated from them because of poverty, limited resources, or difficult circumstances beyond their control.

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After moving to Uganda in 2016, Kristianna began learning more about orphan care and what it truly takes to keep families together. Struck by the reality that, while we often hear there are 147 million orphans worldwide, only a small portion have actually lost both parents. Many are being raised by widowed parents, grandparents, or extended family members doing everything they can with very little support. It changed the way we understood orphan care. We realized that preventing family separation and strengthening vulnerable families must be part of the solution.

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Nicole's journey shaped this mission in a different, but equally powerful, way. Together with her husband, Nick, she adopted and raised 12 children. Through that experience, Nicole witnessed firsthand the confusion, grief, and trauma that can accompany separation from a child's primary caregiver. While adoption has been a beautiful part of her family's story, it also deepened her conviction that - whenever it is safe and possible - mothers should be given the support they need to raise their own children. No mother should have to choose between keeping her child and meeting their basic needs. This understanding ignited a passion for walking alongside vulnerable mothers before family separation became the only option.

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So… in 2021 our hearts were drawn to teenage mothers. Many of these young women had experienced exploitation, abuse, rejection, or isolation from their communities. Without support, both they and their children faced increased vulnerability. We knew something had to change.

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That is how Wildflowers International was born.

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Since then, we have walked alongside at-risk teenage mothers through vocational skills training and mentorship, distributed hundreds of menstrual hygiene kits and educational resources to help girls remain in school, and shared the hope of the Gospel in communities throughout Uganda. Nicole also provides organizational and educational training on trauma-informed care and preventable birth disorders, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, equipping communities with knowledge that can strengthen families for generations to come.

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Our dream is simple: to see communities in Uganda equipped with the tools, opportunities, and support they need to break cycles of orphanhood, poverty, and abuse. We believe lasting change happens when families are strengthened, young people are empowered, and communities are given the chance to flourish.