The Work We Do
Education is a long term investment in a child’s life, one their parents often can’t make.
Getting an education means they’ll be able to have a career and support their future families, and contribute as leaders to their community, and continue making change in their world. But often, a child’s family cannot afford the school fees required for a child to go to school. LightHouse Academy, our highly ranked private school, enrolls mostly orphans or kids whose parents couldn’t afford to send them to school. Read more about our education model.
Women in Kenya are often stuck in situations they are powerless to change.
Our goal is to give them job and trade skills so that they have earning power, which leads to social power. On average women tend to invest about 90% of what they earn back into their families, while men only tend to return about 30%-40% to their families. Empowering women is part of our multi-pronged approach to transforming and empowering a whole community. Read more about our work with women.
Staying healthy is an essential part of having the capacity to change your own life.
When kids are sick they cannot attend school. Many of them don’t get to eat meals when they’re at home, so then sickness can compound into being malnourished as well. Curable illnesses can spiral into life-threatening disease when they are left untreated. The same is true for adults who fall sick and are then unable to work and provide for themselves and their families. We’re dedicated to keeping our students and our community in their best health. Read more about our health and healing programs.
Having a reliable supply of food and water is a challenge in frequently drought-stricken areas of Kenya.
Food security is a huge issue for our community. Often there is plenty during the rainy season, but not knowledge of healthy growing and conservation practices that allow for growing even during drought. We run a farm that serves to feed LightHouse Academy and also teach agricultural skills to the community. Clean water is also a challenge in an area with no reliable sources like wells, a problem we’re addressing with our community water project. Read more about food and water sustainability
Rafiki Africa's Beginnings
When twenty-three year old Dorothy Dulo returned home from school to her village in western Kenya, she found her parents had taken in many orphaned children… Read more
Most Recently Posted
Introducing High School Class of 2022
Rafiki Africa provides holistic education to girls and boys who are vulnerable and may not have a chance to get an education at all. Every year LightHouse Academy, a school sponsored by Rafiki Africa, graduates the 8th grade class to join High School. Rafiki has partnered with other High Schools for our students to attend
Update: Voices from the Class of 2021
After spending 11 years (K_8th grade) with most of these students, in January 2018 they left LightHouse Academy to go to High School. The teachers, staff, parents, and community at LightHouse knew they had established a solid foundation that would enable them to excel in every aspect of their education in High School. During their
Alendu has Water!
In the fall of 2016, our borehole struck clean water. In January of this year, we started water distribution implementation process. The trenches were dug, water pipes laid, water pump and solar installed and treatment house completed. We tested our water flow, made that test-run water available to all community members for free, so they could