Rafiki

I mentioned in my last post that I traveled to Ghana last year. Our primary purpose in going was to love on and serve the orphans at Rafiki Satellite Village. The Methodist Church of Ghana provides some funds for the orphanage and a pastor serves as the director of Rafiki. The orphanage currently is the home to 23 precious children. They live in houses with house mothers, receive three good meals a day, attend school right on campus, and most importantly are taught about God through bible studies and worship services. The school also serves children from the local village down the road. I had the privilege of teaching some first graders while we were there, and I had so much fun! I developed a slow, slightly English accent while teaching in order to bridge the language barrier and they taught me a few words in their native language. I can't tell you how much these children radiate the love of Jesus! For the past year our friends, Katie and Clint, have been living at Rafiki helping them develop a sponsorship program for the children. Rafiki really does not have enough funding to keep all the children cared for in the right way. They are also hoping to serve more children at the orphanage and build more classrooms for the students as they get older. (Right now they have kindergarten through second grade.) They can't do that without some help.
We currently sponsor a boy named Kojo. He is athletic, funny, and mischievous! I got to meet him and spend time with him while at Rafiki. It was so wonderful getting to know the child we sponsor. We also get to communicate with him through notes on the website. We love getting to know him better through these notes! My favorite line he's said is "If you don't come to Ghana soon, I will flush your head down the toilet!" It's a joke among the kids at Rafiki that they will flush your head down the toilet when you're in trouble. Hopefully we will be returning to Ghana sooner than later!

Kojo (in front)

I'll leave you with a few pictures of these wonderful children. If you would like to help out Rafiki or get to know the children and mission better, visit www.rafikifriends.org.