Employee of the Month – May 2026
Every month, we take a moment to shine a light on one of the incredible people who make Rafiki Mwema what it is.
This May, we are proud and delighted to celebrate Agnes Cheserek — teacher, caregiver, role model, and one of the most beloved members of our family.
A teacher at heart
Agnes is a qualified Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) teacher, and it shows in everything she does. She brings professional knowledge, deep patience, and genuine warmth to every child she works with. She understands where children are in their development and meets them there — whether that means helping a young child hold a pen for the very first time, supporting a struggling reader to sound out words, or sitting beside a child who is finding maths difficult and working through it together, step by step.
The results speak for themselves. Children who arrived at Doyle Farm with no academic foundation at all are now reading, writing, and performing above average. Learners like Mary Nafula have, for the first time, become top performers in their class. These are not small achievements — for children who have experienced significant trauma, academic confidence is part of healing. And Agnes has played a very real role in that.
Going above and beyond — Every single day
What makes Agnes so extraordinary is that she never stops at what is required. Her shift ends, but she stays. A school rings after hours, and she picks up. Children need to be accompanied to counselling or hospital appointments, and Agnes is there. When school report books were not making it home, Agnes found a solution — sourcing copies, making photocopies, and personally delivering them to the school. Simple. Creative. Effective.
She accompanies the driver on evening school rounds to check on the children herself. She stays late to make sure every child has what they need for the next school day — the right books, the right uniform, the right pen. She coordinates with outside schools, attends meetings, and builds relationships that mean Rafiki Mwema children are always given priority when new enrolments open up.
She has also taken on the responsibility of planning staff rosters and days off — a task that is more complicated than it sounds, requiring fairness, balance, and a great deal of organisational skill. She handles it with ease and with care, and she has earned the deep trust of those who delegated it to her.
The heart of the team
Beyond her professional contributions, Agnes brings something that cannot be taught — joy. She is described again and again by her colleagues as jovial, funny, humble, and warm. The young children call her “aunt-teacher Agnes,” and they love her. She takes them to the field for games and exercise, she dances with them, she tells them stories, and she creates spaces where they feel free to be children.
She is patient with staff as well as children. She is quick to support, quick to forgive, and quick to step in wherever she is needed. She is, as one colleague put it, “one of the organisation’s greatest assets.”
A pioneer with purpose
Agnes is also one of the pioneers of Rafiki Mwema. She has been here long enough to remember how things were in the earlier years, and she has watched — and contributed to — the remarkable journey of growth this organisation has made. She does not take that for granted. She is proud of how far we have come, and she keeps showing up every day to help take us further.
