Support Rafiki Mtaani
Safe. Seen. Supported.
Help us take care of our Mtaani Family and be a light in the darkness for children living on the streets of Nakuru.
Tax-deductible for Australian donors · DGR registered charity
Rafiki Mtaani means “friend on the street” in Swahili
We are extremely proud of our street-level program supporting children and young people who are living on the streets of Nakuru.
Street-connected children are often treated as disposable. Safety is fragile for them, and trust is rare. Rafiki Mtaani exists to change that – through consistent, daily presence. Our team shows up in the same places, at the same times, week after week, so children know exactly where to find help when they’re ready for it.
Today, Rafiki Mtaani has grown into a comprehensive street support and early intervention program. It combines outreach, relationship-building, medical care, and pathways home, with one goal at its centre: reaching children early, before street life takes hold.
#friendonthestreet
Your support keeps this presence consistent
A friend on the street is only real if they show up every day. Recurring donations make that possible.
Donate NowMeals served
190 265
Children integrated
130
Showers had
17 063
On the ground
How Mtaani works
Mtaani runs on two fronts. Three times a week, our team takes outreach and feeding sessions directly into the CBD, meeting children in the bases where they already are. On the other days, activities continue at our base camp, giving children a stable, familiar place to return to.
Assurance
Daily presence
Consistent relationship-building, so children have an adult they can trust.
Nutrition
Meals, every day
A reliable meal for children who often have no other steady source of food.
Care
Medical assistance
Treatment for injuries and illness that would otherwise go unaddressed.
Connection
Honest conversations
Safe discussions about drugs, substance abuse and the risks of street life.
Hope
Early intervention
Reaching children newly arrived on the streets, when the chance of getting them home is highest.
Reconnection
Rescue & Reintegration
Support to reconnect children with family, where that’s possible and safe.
support
Practical help
Such as obtaining ID cards – opening the door to work, government services, and a vote that counts for people who’ve never had either.
The street landscape keeps shifting.
Other groups sometimes appear briefly for a photo opportunity and disappear, and gangs can control access to certain areas. By staying consistent, Rafiki Mtaani has re-established itself as the trusted reference point in town – the place both children and other services know to send a new arrival.
What happens daily
Our amazing Outreach Team:
- Check on each child’s wellbeing
- Address physical and emotional needs
- Provide meals
- Facilitate activities including:
– Beading
– Painting
– Soccer & Games
– Reading & Writing
But beyond activities, we provide something far more powerful:
Continuity
Consistency
Presence
And a name they can call when they are ready to leave the street.
When attendance faltered
Meeting children where they are
Recently we noticed fewer children showing up to our base camp. We now conduct outreach engagement and feeding sessions within the CBD bases three times per week, in addition to activities at our base camp, which has:
- Rebuilt trust in previously inaccessible areas
- Increased the number of children seeking help
- Allowed us to identify new arrivals immediately
- Enabled earlier returns home before children become entrenched in street life
- Created safer spaces to address addiction and harmful behaviours
We are once again becoming the reference point in town for anything related to street-connected children.
When new children arrive, they are directed to Rafiki Mtaani.
This window of opportunity is everything; the longer a child adapts to street life, the harder rehabilitation becomes.
We need your help
The reality
Outreach has increased costs significantly, particularly food expenses. As more children engage with us and as school holidays approach, numbers rise. But pulling back is not an option.
Not when trust has been rebuilt. Not when children are asking for help to overcome addiction. Not when new arrivals can still be redirected home.
Rafiki Mtaani has grown into a comprehensive street support and early intervention program. Your recurring donation helps us:
- Maintain daily street presence
- Provide meals and medical care
- Reach children in the CBD
- Rescue and reunite children with families
- Prevent long-term street entrenchment
We never wanted this to be a short-term feeding initiative; this is a sustained, strategic street engagement.
This is Rafiki Mtaani.
A Friend on the Street.
How it started
Rafiki Mtaani in the beginning
2019
A heartbreaking reality check
In 2019 we were reminded of the brutal reality of street life in Kenya when a 13-year-old boy was burned to death for stealing a small amount of money to survive.
That tragedy shook us deeply.
Give up to give
Our older children responded in the most beautiful way possible
They gave up something they loved. Swimming lessons were sacrificed so that children still living on the streets could eat.
What began as “Give Up to Give” became a weekly meal program in town. It was simple. It was consistent. It mattered.
lockdown
Then COVID came.
Lockdowns shut markets, hotels and food stalls. Street children lost even the smallest survival opportunities. Enforcement of restrictions brought violence instead of protection.
Many children were beaten simply for existing in public spaces.
The Rafiki Community stepped up once again
Meals increased to daily support. Sports days were introduced. Medical care was provided. Most importantly, consistent presence replaced abandonment.
The feeding program evolved.
It became Rafiki Mtaani – A Friend on the Street.
Recent updates from our Mtaani family
Support Rafiki Mtaani
Just like you and me, these children come in all flavours – some are Foodies, some are Dapper & Stylish, there are the Helpers, the Readers, the Playful and the Lovers of that Fresh Laundry Smell!
Frequently Asked Questions
About Rafiki Mtaani
Rafiki Mtaani means “friend on the street”. It’s our program for children and young people living on the streets of Nakuru, Kenya.
Our Kenyan team is there for them every day. They share meals, offer care and support in every conversation and arrange medical help when needed.
Our main goal is to help each young person leave the street and go home to their family, when it’s safe. If going home isn’t safe, the child is under 12, and there’s no other safe place for them, we may welcome them to Kings Castle on Doyle Farm.
In 2019, the older children at Rafiki Mwema chose to give up their weekend swimming trips. They used the money to buy meals for children living on the street. They called it “Give up to Give”.
It soon became a regular Sunday meal. Then COVID-19 arrived. A curfew in town meant children on the street couldn’t find food, so we began serving meals seven days a week. We’ve not stopped since.
Our Kenyan staff run the program every day. They work from a small base in town. Young people often wait there for the team to arrive in the morning, sometimes needing care after a hard night.
Yes. We support girls and boys equally, and give every young person the same care and attention.
All ages, from babies to adults. People of every age live on the street, and each person has different needs. We support each one based on what they need.
All ages, from babies to adults. People of every age live on the street, and each person has different needs. We support each one based on what they need.
How the program works
Each morning, the team arrives at the base and arranges medical care for anyone who needs it. Then there are meals and showers, reading and writing, beading, painting, soccer and games. Younger children and older young people meet in separate groups.
Seven days a week. Meals are served at two local kiosks, one for the younger group and one for the older group. Everyone gets a large, healthy meal and is treated with respect.
A meal is how trust begins. Seeing the team every day lets our staff check on each young person, care for them, and talk with them about going home. The goal is always a safe way off the street.
Without a daily meal, many young people have no choice but to find food any way they can. A meal takes that pressure away.
We wish it were that simple. If a bed was all a child needed, we’d bring every child to the farm.
When a child comes into Rafiki Mwema’s care, they become our child. We look after them until we find their family and help them return home. Even then, we often keep supporting them. We pay for their schooling and everything else that comes with raising a child.
Bringing a new child to the farm also has to be slow and careful. Each new arrival changes life for the children already living there. Our trained staff and managers in Kenya follow a clear process to keep everyone safe and settled.
Money is the other reason. Each month, we work hard just to cover our basic running costs. We couldn’t fit hundreds of children on the farm, and we could never afford it. If we tried, we’d have to close our doors.
So we do all we can for the children on the street. Every day, our team gets to know them and learns why they’re there. Often it isn’t violence or neglect. Many children simply got lost and can’t find their way home.
As of 27 October 2026, we’ve helped 129 children go home to their families.
Some children do come to live at Doyle Farm. This only happens after our team has worked closely with them, learnt about their home life, and found they have no other safe option. We then bring them in step by step, so the move goes well for them and for the children already living at Kings Castle.
Going home starts with trust. At first, many children aren’t ready to talk. Once they feel comfortable with us, they slowly start to open up.
Every conversation is a chance to heal. We bring a therapeutic approach to everything we do. Over time, the children tell us where they came from and why they ended up on the street.
It isn’t always because of drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it’s as simple as a small child who left home to look for food because they were hungry, and then got lost. Other children have run away because home wasn’t safe.
Whatever the reason, we take the time to understand it. If a child comes from a loving home, we reach out to their family. We let them know we’ve found their child, and we ask if they’re ready to welcome them back.
In Kenya, there often isn’t a police search when a child goes missing like there would be in Australia or other western countries. Many families can’t afford their next meal, let alone the cost of looking for a lost child. That’s one of the reasons so many children end up on the street.
When we bring a child home, many families are overwhelmed with joy.
If home isn’t safe and the child is under 12, we begin the steps to bring them to Doyle Farm. There, we help them heal and move away from drugs. In time, we find a safe, loving family for them.
After a young person goes home, our outreach team checks in to make sure they’re safe.
Sadly, some people in our Mtaani family may never leave the street. Street life has too strong a hold on them. For them, we keep showing up. We care for them on the street and give them the basic things every person deserves.
Yes. Our team talks openly with young people about how drugs affect the body, and how we can help them use less. We also use a projector for picture-based lessons, so the information is easier to understand.
We talk about how to stay away from people who sell drugs. And we encourage our Mtaani family to share the challenges they face because of drug use.
We never share a young person’s name, or any detail that could identify them, without their consent. We never name the exact places where we work.
Our impact
The stats are updated monthly further up on this page here.
Running the Rafiki Mtaani program costs about (AUD) $155 a day / $1,100 a week / $4,750 a month.
These figures do not include the outreach work to assist in reintegrating children back home.
How you can help
- Make a monthly donation, so the team can plan ahead
- Sponsor a child
- Leave a donation in your will
- Ask your business to partner with us
- Sign up for our monthly updates
Yes. Donations of $2 or more are tax-deductible in Australia. If you’re based in the UK or USA you can give through our partner GlobalGiving and receive a tax receipt from them.
To keep our children safe, we don’t accept visitors or volunteers at Rafiki Mwema. Our children need routine and steady care, and our Kenyan staff give them both beautifully. When people come in and out of their lives, it can set back their healing, however kind those people are.
Join our safari instead
If you want to experience Kenya and connect with our work, join us on Safari ya Urafiki – Journey of Friendship. It’s a carefully planned trip for supporters. Local leaders guide it, and the program follows strong child safety rules.
Other ways to help
For a small part of what a trip to Kenya costs, you can make a big difference from home:
- Make a donation to help cover our daily running costs
- Hold a fundraiser in your home town
- Sponsor a child, so they have everything they need, every day
- Sponsor our outreach team for as little as $5 a month. The team checks on children after they go home, to make sure they’re safe
- Write to our children. They love getting letters and small gifts. School groups are welcome to write too!
You can find more ways to help on our Get Involved page.
Thank you so much for thinking of us. Sadly, we can’t get items from Australia to Kenya at the moment.
Post to Kenya is unreliable. Parcels often don’t arrive. When they do, we’re charged large fees to collect them, often more than the items are worth.
Right now, the only way we can get items to Kenya is to carry them on our own trips. Those trips are limited, and our bags are always full of school uniforms and other supplies.
Instead, we suggest sending good-quality items to RizeUp Australia, a charity we love supporting. RizeUp is a community-driven organisation that supports families affected by domestic and family violence.
Please send items to:
RizeUp Australia
Lorraine Harvey
8 Fort Close
Springfield Lakes QLD 4300
Please make sure toys and clothes are in good condition and not damaged. If clothes are used, please wash them before sending. Lorraine takes them straight to refuges and can’t wash them first.
To get in touch with RizeUp, email [email protected]. If you can’t email, call 0439 533 220.
