Rafiki Mwema

Holding the hand of the future

Stories from Kenya

Rafiki Christmas 2018

Rafiki_Christmas_2018-1

What a wonderful Christmas we were able to celebrate this year at Rafiki Mwema.
There are so many of you who have been involved with this process.. from sending gifts to Sarah or Anne Marie to bring over for presents or donating towards our Christmas Party and staff bonuses.

We enjoyed the MOST fabulous Christmas celebration at Doyle Farm where we were able to hire lots of play equipment for the children to enjoy.

We had one of our favourite chefs come to make a delicious meal. We also had soda, fairy floss AND ice cream.
Our staff were thrilled when they were advised we could give them a bonus for Christmas thanks to our sponsors.
After our party we joined at the Kings Castle and gave out gifts to everyone. It was such an exciting day and night and I can’t describe the feeling of being involved in such a day of happiness for these kids who deserve this and so much more.

We couldn’t have afforded to do this without all of you who contributed. Every gift, every cent, made this day perfection. Don’t ever think your contribution is too small.. Look at what we all did.

Enjoy these photos.. There are so many days in our children’s life that our kids need to forget. I believe if we fill their heads with these joyful moments it will help remove the bad memories and keep the good. This is a day our kids will remember forever.

#rafikichristmas2018

Eco by Sonya Hand & Nail Cream for Rafiki Mwema!

ECO TAN first monthly donation from hand cream

After Eco by Sonya Driver x Eco Tan’s Glory Oil campaign earlier in the year where they raised $100,000 in just 5 days after Celeste Barber, and ambassador for Rafiki Mwema reached out to Sonya, a glorious plan was put in place to provide a long term solution to help Rafiki Mwema. So the idea to bring out a certified organic product with 100% of the profits to go directly to helping the wonderful women who run Rafiki Mwema, an Australian based Charity was born.

The NEW Eco by Sonya Driver Hand & Nail Cream for Rafiki Mwema is a beautiful certified organic hand & nail cream designed to replenish and retain moisture to your skin. Made using only the kindest organic and natural ingredients like Organic Mango, Sea Buckthorn and Vitamin C that are known to soothe, hydrate & help restore rough, dry and stressed skin. Our Hand & Nail Cream will provide you with super soft skin, strong nails and a full heart.

About Eco Tan
What started out as a personal endeavour for Eco Tan’s founder and CEO Sonya Driver, who was determined to find a tanning product made from all-natural ingredients, became much more when Eco Tan made Australian history in 2011 by becoming the country’s first certified organic tanning manufacturer. Named Best Organic Beauty Brand of 2017 by LUX Magazine’s Global Excellence Awards, Eco Tan continues to be a stand out global leader in the organic beauty industry.

ECO TAN first monthly donation from hand cream

Greenhouse & Cows thanks to Association Femmes d’Europe

Greenhouse & Cows thanks to Association Femmes d'Europe

Many months ago we had a grant approved from Association Femmes d’Europe – FdE to build a greenhouse for our farm and to purchase some dairy cows. We had many stops and starts (This is Africa) but we are finally up and running! the very exciting news is we are producing enough produce for all of our houses and also enough milk for all of our houses from our cows!

This will help us to lower our month to month costs and we are so grateful for their huge contribution to our family.

A special thank you to Rita & Laura who made this possible. Thanks for your patience with this project and thank you for your generosity Association Femmes d’Europe – FdE!! 🙏

King’s Castle Opening {Part 3}

King's Castle Opening {Part 3}

At last. THE day had arrived. It was the opening of our Kings Castle. It was unbelievable that in a few short hours ALL our boys and girls would live together at Doyle Farm. There’s not a day goes by that we are not eternally grateful to Noel & Kate Doyle for buying the farm and making everything else possible.

The morning of the opening was a rush of last minute preparations and being interviewed for a documentary that Constance team were making.

And then it happened. Constance walked out of her house with baby Raja at her breast, looking every inch the African Mama she was. Denzy was with her looking more and more Massai everyday.

As they joined us and our other guests our children burst into laughter, clapping, and dance. They love those guys! They met Cons best friend Hugh with big big smiles and waited for his infectious craziness to erupt – and he didn’t disappoint! The Rafiki Mwema children call him uncle cheesey- but not in the way we might mean it. Qizi is Swahili for crazy and he is certainly that and we all adore him.

So the fun began. We had a day full of our children singing and dancing , speeches from our guests, all held loosely together by Anne-Marie who MC’d the day admirably.

We went live on Facebook – thank you to everyone who watched and commented. We had our lovely Aaron taking the most beautiful photos. Our day was perfect.

Con made the most emotional beautiful speech that touched the hearts of our children, while Denzy was made an honoury Massai and joined them in their traditional dancing I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier man.

Some of our children shared their stories with the world and maybe that was the highlight. To tell everyone about the horrors of living on the streets in town, where you feared you could never ever live a safe life where you were loved – and then to come to Rafiki Mwema. So emotional.

The day continued with feasting on the most delicious food, and dancing and singing for hours.

Denzy and Cons sons shared their dance styles with our children. A really international day.

And that of course now becomes the new beginning of our next chapter.

All our children safely on the farm together.

One beautiful big family living a life children deserve.

We salute you Queen Constance for the magic and beauty you have brought Rafiki Mwema.

We love you for simply caring enough to help children that now take you as their family.

Their heartbeat echoes yours. You are loved and rightly so.

Asante Sana is not enough but it’s all we have to give you. Thanks and love in abundance.

You truly are our Queen.

Anne-Marie & Sarah

All photos by the amazing UAVISUALS

King’s Castle Opening {Part 2}

King’s Castle Opening {Part 2}

Can you imagine the tension, the excitement the disbelief at Rafiki Mwema that Constance and her family were on their way!

Walking into the big girls house with Constance when she arrived was simply eclectic. The love that she had simply poured out of her very being. The girls, all teenagers, simply calmed in her air. They screamed when she arrived and then it was as if calmness came and they just wanted to hang with her. How does Con do that. She is exactly what she needs to be and our girls loved it

Watching our small baby girls sing their welcome song for Con was magic. Their beautiful little faces. Their African sound. Their joy at their Queen visiting. Cons face alight with love coming straight back to her. Family coming home.

How can you measure what this means? A total stranger raised money to build our house because she loves us. And now she’s traveled around the world with her baby to be with us. Because she loves us. Mind blowing

And our Kings! The boys the world didn’t want! The boys too damaged to love. Yeah right! The magic that is Constance Hall went straight to the heart of our Kings. They were like putty in her presence. How could this person care about us and love us when our own family have struggled to do that? They saw the love and felt the connection. She is our family. Full stop.

Having Con at Rafiki Mwema was like the sun setting on a perfect day. No words can capture its beauty. No picture can truly create that image. But the glow lives in your heart and brightens the darkest corner

Con, you are our sunrise and our sunset. You bring us acceptance from a world we fear will judge us. You are our love and our joy.

You are family.

All photos by the amazing UAVISUALS

King’s Castle Opening {Part 1}

King’s Castle Opening {Part 1}

There was so much excitement in our houses about the opening of the King’s Castle. It had been a LONG time coming, with so many hidden expenses we thought it would never happen.

Sarah, Anne-Marie and Natasha had arrived in Kenya ready to celebrate the big day. We thought we were the VIP’s but not at all!

Three weeks before the day Sarah got a VERY exciting message from Constance Hall to say it looked like she would be coming with her husband Denim and her baby son Raja. I cannot tell you how excited and anxious we all became! Our Queen was coming to Kenya and we needed to make sure everything was perfect for her! It was beyond our wildest dreams; would it really happen; would they get their visas ok; would Constance’s anxiety allow her to actually come! The stress of visiting Africa for the first time, and bringing your tiny baby with you – what a brave loving and kind Mama!

To say that our kids were excited when they heard that Constance was coming is like saying Niagara falls sounds like a tap running! They screamed and clapped and danced. They simply couldn’t believe it. The energy in the houses was electric. They through themselves into practising a welcome song for Constance. They danced morning noon and night and they chatted continually about what she might wear; what her voice was like; how tall was she – why would she come all this way to see them! That was the question they couldn’t answer. They didn’t get that she loved them without ever having met them. It was too unbelievable for them to think.

So the preparations went into overdrive. Queen Constance was coming to Rafiki Mwema. Doesn’t get any bigger than that for our family!

The days past; we had news that Denim’s sons were coming with them – we watched clips of them and their amazing skateboarding – our boys were so desperate to meet them and learn some skills. We heard that Cons friends and her baby brother were also coming – a party of eight. Now I went into panic – would the house be ready for them; would the beds be delivered in time!!!!

I can’t tell you the excitement of going to Nairobi to meet them from the airport! Sarah, Peter and Anne-Marie stood for hours watching folk appear but not them. Our hearts were pounding; we kept being told not to climb the ramp to look for them; we kept climbing the ramp. We couldn’t keep still – we were manic with waiting.

And then they came. I’m pretty sure there was a halo around Con as she walked towards us. It was pretty full on emotional. I think we all shed a tear. Who knew that from the facebook campaign 2.5 years ago, Constance Hall would be in Nairobi coming to meet her family. EMOTIONAL!

All photos by the amazing UAVISUALS