Your project, first of all, sounds incredible. Your dedication to expressing the stories of children otherwise not understood is beyond promising. Even being African myself, it's still emotional to unearth certain cultures unknown to me, and I understand the overwhelming urge to share knowledge attained.
I have been illustrating for years, more than 10 by hand, about 5 with Photoshop+. And I'd like to do a test run for one of the 16 illustrations in the specific style you want, because I am already quite in love with your project.
Send examples of style you want, wa t you want depicted, what refinement level, more cartoon or human ?, etc.
Feel free to message to discuss further.