“Rafiki” means friend in Swahili and depicts the purpose of the Foundation—to befriend orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27). The mission of the Rafiki Foundation is to help Africans know God by caring for and educating orphans, providing materials and training in education and Bible study, and giving economic opportunities to widows.
To accomplish this mission, Rafiki established ten Rafiki Training Villages within the African countries of Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. These Villages provide living, educational, and medical facilities through Rafiki’s four programs: Childcare, Education, Training, and Widows.
The Rafiki Foundation sends out qualified professionals to work with African nationals to promote the physical, spiritual, educational, and social well-being of children and widows through its programs.
ChildCare Program The Childcare Program provides a loving home to about 200 orphans in the Rafiki Training Villages. The goal of the ChildCare Program is to rescue these children from physical death through medical care and nutrition, and to rescue them from spiritual darkness by teaching them to know God.
Education Program The purpose of the Education Program is to cultivate minds and hearts that love God, their neighbor, and all that is true, good, and beautiful. Each Rafiki Village includes an accredited school from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. All students are instructed with the Rafiki School Curriculum—a quality, academic curriculum written by the Foundation that integrates a biblical worldview into a traditional liberal arts core of arts, letters, sciences, and mathematics.
Training Program The Training Program exposes African national headmasters to a Christian liberal arts teaching model at the pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels. Headmasters learn how to implement teaching techniques that promote critical thinking and how to develop lesson plans that integrate a biblical worldview. Upon completion of the training, the headmasters receive copies of the Rafiki School Curriculum and the Rafiki Bible Study to use within their institutions.
Widows Program The goal of the Widows Program is to provide African widows and impoverished women of the church a means of employment and artistic expression through the making of handcrafts. Rafiki will purchase, ship, and sell the widows’ handcrafts through the Rafiki Exchange.
The Rafiki Training Villages perform two main functions. First, they provide living, medical, and educational facilities for orphans and vulnerable children in ten of Africa’s most impoverished nations. Second, they train African churches and governments to care for and educate their orphans and support their widows. Rafiki Overseas Staff, who are long-term missionaries, operate the Rafiki Training Villages with the assistance of national workers and short-term missionaries. Together this team accomplishes the dual purpose of the Rafiki Training Villages—to help orphans and widows and train others to do the same.
The Home Office supports the work in Africa by training workers, developing materials, and facilitating the needs of the Rafiki Training Villages. The Home Office is located in the city of Eustis in central Florida on fifty-seven acres that adjoin a nature preserve. The complex of buildings replicates the design of a Rafiki Training Village in Africa. The Home Office houses the administrative offices, training facilities, printing facilities, and the Rafiki Exchange. There are many opportunities available for those who wish to volunteer.
Located at the Home Office, the Rafiki Exchange sells unique handcrafts from ten African countries that are fashioned by African women through the Widows Program. Proceeds from the sales provide much needed income to the widows and impoverished women of the African churches. To purchase merchandise, visit our website at store.rafikifoundation.org.
The Foundation is overseen by a board of directors comprised of twelve individuals who are united by a commitment to the vision and mission of the Foundation.
The Rafiki Foundation is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. See the ECFA’s profile on the Rafiki Foundation.
Rafiki has received a Good rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities. See Charity Navigator’s evaluation of the Rafiki Foundation.