History of Rafiki Mwema
How it all started
The story of how two women, one in Kenya/The UK and one in Australia, built something that neither could have built alone.
In the beginning
In 2011, Anne-Marie Tipper – a play therapist who had spent years working with traumatised children in Kenya with her UK charity Play Kenya – opened a small house in Nakuru for girls going through the court system. Children who had survived the most serious abuse and needed somewhere safe to stay while justice was pursued.
She called it Rafiki Mwema – “loyal friend” in Swahili. In their first week, the house was home to 22 girls.
Building a website for Play Kenya
Sarah Rosborg had known Anne-Marie for several years by then. Sarah ran Castle Design, a web design company in Australia, and had built Anne-Marie’s website for free – as she did for many charities she believed in.
Sarah remembers working on the Play Kenya website with her newborn daughter Lovisa in a baby carrier, and asking Anne-Marie not to send her stories of the Rafiki girls just yet. She had just become a mother.
The weight of what those children had survived was more than she could hold in those early weeks.
The first rental house, run by Play Kenya
A website became fundraising
At this point Sarah completely smitten with the project and her fundraising era began. It started with giving the girls of Rafiki Mwema a Christmas party and gifts, and developed to include spreading the word to all her friends and Castle Design clients.
Some of the efforts at the time include:
- ANOTHER website and updated branding for Play Kenya by Sarah
- A website for Rafiki Familia (the Play Kenya boys house at the time) by Rafiki volunteer – and recently Admin Officer – Victoria
- A marathon fundraiser by Rafiki Mwema board member Claire Harding and her husband Evan
- A High Tea fundraiser by friend Zanni
- A fundraising raffle by Sarah
- Copywriting work donated by friend Emily Toxward
- “Letters for My Rafiki” project by friend and blogger Chantelle – Fat Mum Slim
The reality
A charity needs constant funding
When the house opened and the funding ran out, Anne-Marie reached out again. She needed help raising money to keep the doors open. Sarah said yes.
The reality: Raising funds
Fundraising auction no. 1 (of many!)
Sarah ran an auction, working day and night for weeks, and raised over $17,000.
But even as she celebrated, she could see the problem clearly: a lump sum doesn’t keep a home open. The children needed consistency.
The reality: Governance
Founding a charity
Sarah gathered a small group of friends – Claire, Nicci, and her best friend Jandy – and asked if they would join a charity board with her.
They said yes. Without hesitation and clueless about the immense work ahead, they embarked on the journey of a lifetime.
The reality: Systems
Rafiki Mwema Australia Inc.
Rafiki Mwema Australia was born – a registered Australian charity with the infrastructure, the fundraising, and the systems to give the work in Kenya a sustainable future.
The reality is…
The work never stops
Over a decade later we’re still developing our Salesforce CRM with invaluable help from FullCRM, improving systems, making sure we are compliant in all areas of governance across both Australia and Kenya – and constantly fundraising to keep the doors open.
Rafiki Mwema today
A permanent home on Doyle Farm
From that rented house, Rafiki Mwema has grown into something none of us could have imagined in those early days. In 2015 the very generous Kate and Noel Doyle helped buy a 14 acre farm so Rafiki could have a safe, permanent home.
Today, Rafiki Mwema is home to around 70 children across five therapeutic houses – two girls’ houses, two boys’ houses, and a special needs house – as well as more than 200 children who have left our care and returned safely to family in their communities through our Outreach Program (as of 2025).
Anne-Marie and her husband John stepped down from Rafiki Mwema in 2021 and are still running their UK registered charity Play Kenya.
Read more about Doyle FarmHelp us continue our work
Working together to change the lives of children in Kenya with the love, respect and empathy they deserve.
Tax-deductible for Australian donors · DGR registered charity
