Ten years ago, a group of supporters came together for something called Queen’s Castle. It wasn’t the biggest fundraiser we’ve ever run, and it wasn’t the smallest. What it was, was one of the first times a room full of people outside Kenya decided that children they would never meet were worth showing up for.
We don’t say this often enough, but we remember. We remember who was in that room. We remember what that donation made possible in the years that followed, long after the event itself was over.
A decade on, some of those same supporters are still with us. Some have drifted, the way people do when life gets busy or circumstances change, and that’s alright too, we’re not writing this to guilt anyone back. We’re writing it because ten years is a long time to keep believing in something, and we think that deserves to be celebrated.
Since Queen’s Castle, we’ve grown from a small residential program into something with real reach across Doyle Farm, Rafiki Mtaani, our Outreach Program and Rafiki Social. More than 240 children have been supported through Rafiki Mwema since we began.
Right now, 22 children are being supported through step-down and reintegration, on their way back into their communities, which is the whole point of what we do.
We are not an orphanage. We are a therapeutic home, staffed by Kenyan professionals trained to help children recover from trauma and return to safe homes, not to stay with us forever.
This life-saving work is all due to the people who decided, ten years ago and every year since, that this cause was worth their support.
If you were in that room, or if you’ve joined us since, thank you.
If you’ve been thinking about getting involved again, whether that’s a monthly donation or a one-off gift when a recurring commitment isn’t the right fit right now, this month is as good a time as any.
