The 10-acre orphanage is also home to chickens, cows grazing goats and rabbits. Trudging through vegetable, fruit and potato gardens on the land, which employs only two full-time farmers, one learns that the orphans’ food comes from the farm. A worker takes 100 trays of eggs to the market and earns $150 for clothing and other supplies.

Rafiki is reaching out to those even less fortunate who live around them. With the farm being so productive, we have been able to totally provide for all the food, milk, and water for the orphans and staff. But we are aware that “Street Kids” abound in the area with little or none of the support that bless the orphans at Rafiki. So we began a feeding program for the street kids a couple of years ago. A related plan quickly emerged to give each of the core group a small loan if they produced a plan to use the money to create a business. Boys have opted for businesses such as shoe shining, and the girls are planning on putting together a green grocer market to supply vegetables to the community.

Rafiki now generates its own biogas (methane) from what’s left over after the cows have eaten the grass and grain and given milk for the kids—cow dung. Besides being good for the environment, and convenient, and reliable, Rafiki would have to pay $1500/year for gas if they were to buy bottled gas. Up to this point, they have used firewood for cooking. Biogas is far more efficient.