Anica Pederson September 2026

Greetings from rainy, rainy, rainy Liberia! As our term ends in the middle of September, we are still enjoying the cooler weather that comes with our daily buckets of rain. While I, personally, enjoy this deluge, it creates problems for many people here to arrive to school or work on time, as well as flooding which can bring unexpected maintenance issues at employees’ homes, as well as sickness from our pesky mosquito friends.

Julie McKeighan, who is the Village Administrator, was able to come back to help me transition into the role and say good-bye. She has been playing an advisory role to me until her departure in early November, so I can get a feel for running things with her hand still on the wheel. I am deeply grateful for her guidance and patience on everything from government paperwork to money management. Please pray for Julie’s transition to the States, as God calls her to be a strong presence in her family’s lives. Please also pray that God will imbue me with His wisdom, presence and fortitude as I add a new role onto the two I currently have: Dean of Rafiki Teachers College and Widows Coordinator.

I wanted to introduce you all to one of our maintenance staff. His name is Israel and he has been working at Rafiki for about three years. He first heard about Rafiki as he was looking for a school for his son. The rules and structure of the school, as well as the aim to help people know God impressed him deeply. He says that Rafiki has helped him develop in his faith. He says, “Before…you can just say you’re Christian and go to church whenever you feel like it. But Rafiki helped me to understand the Bible by teaching us and explaining the stories to us. All of that helped me feel like I was out of track. Rafiki helped to bring me back to track. Now I can talk about God and partake in those conversations. I can sit and advise people and encourage them with the help of the Rafiki Bible Study.” He also told me that he is planning to apply for the Rafiki Teachers College sometime in the next year. The salary that he is making has allowed him to set a small amount aside so that he will be able to meet demands that come with going to school full-time. Our head of maintenance recently went on vacation, and during that time, Israel stepped up into a leadership position and led the rest of the team with a quiet authority. Please help me to thank God for Israel’s service and heart that are ready to be used in service to God. Please pray that he will continue to be a godly influence on the maintenance team, and that he will be able to come to the college like he desires to do.

Israel, on the right, standing proudly in front of his plantings

We recently got a container full of Bibles from Crossway, almost 20,000! So far, we have been able to give out pallets of Bibles to Prison Fellowship and two colleges. We still have thousands that are waiting to be placed into eager hands. We thank God for the safe delivery of these Bibles and pray that God will give us wisdom to place them in the hands of those who will be most blessed by them.

A truckload of Bibles headed to Prison Fellowship

As for the Rafiki Teachers College, God seems to be cultivating patience in all of us by the bucketload. We still have not received accreditation for our bachelor’s degree, but have been moved onto a list that that our accrediting body says will be the next to be looked at. We can only pray. We did have an open house last month that had eight visitors. That might sound small, but it was actually larger than what we were expecting. Please pray that even if those who attended may not come, they will spread the word about the college to those who can. A few of my students spoke about their experiences at the college, and it was so sweet to hear them talk about their love for the Bible study, and how the focus on time helped them to manage theirs better, and how they felt supported by the staff.

One of our oldest students presenting at the open house

I remain well, and am excited about my sister visiting at the end of September! My love and thanks to all of you.

Learn more about Rafiki’s expanding opportunities.

Visit our newly designed website RafikiFoundation.org to learn how to:

Purchase the Rafiki Bible Study for small groups for your church or neighborhood
Serve as a missionary with Rafiki
Sponsor a child with the Rafiki Foundation to bring God’s Word and the best education in the world to some of the neediest children in the world in Africa.

Explore the Rafiki Foundation YouTube channel.

Visit (youtube.com/@RafikiFoundation) for videos from Rafiki children, teaching at our annual Enrichment conferences, and the teaching at our African classical Christian conferences.