Dora Moono Nyambe — an influencer known for teaching hundreds of students, opening a school in Zambia and promoting her humanitarian efforts to millions of people on TikTok — has died. She was 32.
On Friday, Dec. 27, a message shared to Nyambe’s TikTok and Instagram accounts confirmed her death with a note to followers about a burial service scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 28.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden departure of our beloved Dora,” the message read. “She will be remembered as a loved mother, heroine, eace philanthropist and an extraordinary woman.”
A teacher, who identified herself as Nyambe’s “best friend,” shared on TikTok that she died on Wednesday, Dec. 25.
A cause of death for Nyambe — who gained more than 4 million TikTok followers since March 2020 — has not been revealed.
On Dec. 16, Nyambe shared on TikTok that she suffered a leg injury; however, it’s unknown whether the leg injury is connected to her death.
A contact for Nyambe did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday.
Dora Moono Nyambe/Facebook
In her final TikTok video, uploaded days before her death, Nyambe reflected on her life. “When I started to adopt, people said I couldn’t do it because of my age and being unmarried,” she wrote over the compilation clip, which showed glimpses of her supporting hundreds of kids throughout the years. “One day at a time,” she captioned the video.
After growing up in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, Nyambe visited the village of Mapapa to see a friend in 2019, according to Northeastern University’s website, which cites a book tour from Nyambe and Northeastern alum Joseph Schmitt — who wrote about her experiences in 2023’s Under a Zambian Tree. Once there, the teacher and influencer saw the impacts of poverty, malnutrition and a lack of access to education, as well as girls being forced into early marriages, per the outlet.
“By the second or third day, I was asking, ‘Why aren’t these kids in school?’ ” she told a crowd during a Boston book event.
She and her adoptive children then moved to the village with the plan of building and opening a school under a large mpundu tree. While there, one of her daughters introduced her to TikTok, which eventually allowed her to promote her charitable organization, Footprints of Hope.
According to her LinkedIn, Nyambe attended Immaculata Teaching College from 2011 to 2013 before founding her nonprofit in January 2019.
Her videos — which allowed her to raise money for the nonprofit, expand the school and raise awareness of child marriages — have since earned more than 171 million likes on TikTok.
Per Northeastern, as of last year, Footprints of Hope had a campus of 350 students and featured dormitories, a library and a dining hall that serves three meals a day. At the time, the school employed 15 teachers going up to grade 7. According to her Instagram, Nyambe fostered 200 children and fed and educated 500 with her work.
Dora Moono Nyambe/Facebook
“Yes, there are kids that are suffering. But that’s not all they are. They are also amazing human beings,” Nyambe said, per Northeastern.
“They make this amazing art. They love sports. They love to read,” she continued. “I show these other aspects that you wouldn’t typically see in a traditional African story of the poor child wanting help.”
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Nyambe’s most-viewed TikToks include clips in which she amplifies the individual struggles of her students — including students in need of food for their families — and details her story as she fed, clothed and provided an education to hundreds of children.
As she detailed in December on TikTok, her efforts had “rescued over 500 children” from sexual assault and abuse.
Her final Instagram post was a collaborative upload with Mr. Beast’s Beast Philanthropy account — showing her rebuilding dorms following a “devastating storm” last year.
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