McDaniel September 2026

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:1-4).

As our school break comes to an end and the Rafiki children return from their home-stays, we are using the last slow days at Rafiki Village Malawi to focus on our other programs, specifically the Widows Bible study groups and distributing Outreach materials. Alexis and Alaethia visited two Widows Bible study groups from the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Anglican Diocese of Northern Malawi, which were organized by Madam Bertha Ng’oma (a longtime friend and former employee of Rafiki). The women in those groups warmly welcomed Alexis and Alaethia, and they took time to share their stories about how the Bible study and Widows Program purchases had changed their lives and hearts. They have learned to humbly rely on God and to seek Him in their difficulties, not to be upset and seek worldly solutions. Some used the proceeds from the Widows products purchased by Rafiki in order to build houses, others purchased livestock and started small businesses, and others used the money to provide for the basic needs for themselves and their children. Some of these ladies recounted their memories of escorting Agogo (Grandmother) Rosemary and the Home Office team to and from the plane when they would arrive in Mzuzu at the very beginning of Rafiki’s time working in Malawi.

Widows groups that Alexis and Alaethia visited

Rafiki’s Outreach partnerships and activities in Malawi are ever-expanding, with three new Outreach schools scheduled to receive curriculum and complete a week-long teacher training at Rafiki in early October. This will mean the implementation of Rafiki’s curriculum in all three regions of Malawi! In addition to these schools, we have now distributed the last of the Bibles sent by Crossway for their ministry partners in Malawi, coming to a total of 23,000 Global Study Bibles and ESV Pew Bibles distributed and another 12,960 still to be distributed. Crossway also shared thousands of Global Pastors Book Sets with Rafiki, so that we can pass these along to pastors and church leaders in all ten African countries where we work to equip our church partners with sound teaching and study resources. We have begun distributing these book sets to pastors in Malawi this month and plan to continue these distributions throughout the country over the next year, meaning these pastors and teachers will now have their own study Bibles and the beginning of a personal library to serve them in their ministry and everyday Christian living. We thank God for allowing Rafiki to be part of the distribution of such wonderful resources, which go perfectly alongside the Rafiki Bible Study.

Boxes of Bibles for distribution

A few of the recipients of the Pastors book sets

Alexis also spoke at a women’s conference organized by one of our church partners, the theme of which was salvation by grace alone. Alaethia served by playing piano during the conference, and several Rafiki Mothers, employees, graduates, and one Rafiki child attended the conference to learn and discuss God’s Work of gracious salvation for His beloved children.

God blessed us with the wonderful surprise by way of providing Dr. Bryant and Mrs. Rhonda Owens to spend a couple of weeks with us after spending two weeks volunteering at Rafiki Village Kenya. Dr. Bryant was tremendously helpful in guiding our staff through the organization of necessary documents for our upcoming Rafiki Teachers College accreditation inspection, and both he and Rhonda gave time to investing in our teachers and school leadership, focusing on the liberal arts tradition in its application for the glory of God.

Thank you for remembering us in your prayers and supporting us financially, so that we can continue in this work. As we are still in need of additional funding to meet our support needs, we ask that you consider sharing these newsletters with your friends and family. If your church would be interested in having us come and share more about all that God is doing through Rafiki in Malawi, please reach out to Rafiki so that we can plan to do so when we are in the U.S.A. next spring. We thank God for you, always.

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.