Nelson September 2021

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).

Thinking back to July of 2015, we can still remember the sense of overwhelm we experienced as we stepped into our roles as Rafiki Village Administrators. We were sure of God’s call to serve with Rafiki. We had packed up and moved around the world with Grace and Ian who were eleven and nine at the time. We were taking on leadership roles in a wonderful organization providing daily care and education to over one hundred young people ages six to twenty-four. Three of those young people had already started their tertiary education and three started their university studies soon after we arrived. Navigating university logistics was not in our active skill-set, not to mention the unique challenges of university logistics in Ghana. We had so much to learn and learned so much through trial and error. Please thank God with us that when our abilities seemed inadequate—His sovereignty was more than enough to carry us through each day.

Six years later and with God’s help, fifteen young adults have completed degrees, diplomas, certificates, and vocational training. Another thirteen are in the midst of their tertiary education or just about to start. And we have five more young adults graduating from the Rafiki Senior High School in the next couple months who will all likely qualify to pursue university degrees. It is overwhelming to think of what God has done in a few short years. Please thank God with us that He has been faithful in the past to the children being raised at the Rafiki Villages, and that we know He will continue to be faithful.

One of the former residents who has completed Higher National Diploma studies recently accepted a teaching position in our primary school. Andrea has also hired him to oversee regular activities with the residents two days after school and on Saturday afternoons. It is a wonderful full-circle experience when our graduates make connections with the current residents and pass along the wisdom they have gained through their years of independent living. He joins a second graduate employed by the school who is using her secretarial training in her job as administrative assistant and librarian. Please pray with us that, in the near future, we will have more graduates who desire to give back to the Rafiki Village out of the abundance of blessing they have grown up with. And that wherever they stay, God’s light will shine through them into their community.

As our family begins our seventh year of service in Ghana, we are thankful for your partnership with us in the work God is doing here. We thank God and pray as Paul prayed in his letter to the Ephesians “ that Christ may dwell in (our) hearts through faith—that (we), being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God ” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

It’s a struggle to keep the bush grass beaten back especially during the rainy season. Would you consider partnering with us to purchase a mower/tractor? If so, please visit https://rafikifoundation.org/project/ghana-tractor for details.

Please enjoy some pictures of our life here in Ghana.

There’s a group of young men who love to repair, re-purpose, and remake broken things. This 5th grader made a desk lamp out of broken flashlight parts and cardboard.

BDT—Basic Design and Technology is one of the junior high courses required in Ghana. Our 8th graders recently enjoyed a lesson on batik printing.

COVID protocols are still preventing our resident families from rejoining their two local churches. This group of guitar players assists Andrea in leading the singing of hymns and songs each week.

Meet our group of sound engineers who assist with providing audio for movies, programs, and church service.

Here’s our graduate, Kojo, encouraging the youths in good sportsmanship and closing their time of games with a prayer.

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