Medical Items Needed For Rafiki FoundationOver-the-counter medication and Band-Aids® are some of the items being collected locally to assist The Rafiki Foundation orphans in Africa.
The foundation provides living facilities to care for the physical, spiritual, social and emotional needs of 600 orphans in 10 African countries. Rafiki also offers medical care to surrounding African communities.
In addition to the 600 orphans it serves, the foundation takes in approximately 275 teenagers from communities that surround the village who do not have an opportunity for education because they cannot afford it.The foundation was started in 1985 by a woman named Rosemary Jensen, who still serves as the foundation's director.
"The original goal of the organization was to help girls in Africa who seldom received education and were sold off into prostitution and made as slaves," Joe Baucom, Rafiki representative, said.
The goal was to build 10 villages to assist African children with education and healthcare.
The headquarters were started in San Antonio, Texas, but now there is a main office in Eustus, Fla.
Baucom is a volunteer for the foundation and works out of an office in his Winona Lake home.
Baucom is currently working on a local project to collect over-the-counter medical supplies for Rafiki's medical program. The Kosciusko County drop-off point for supplies is McDonald's, 3611 Commerce Drive, Warsaw.
The donations will be used at community medical clinics in January in Africa, as well for the children in the foundation's orphanage and those who attend Rafiki schools.
The donations will be mailed to the headquarters in Florida to the Rafiki medical director who will distribute the items as needed.
Items have been collected from the public since Oct. 21, and donations will continue to be collected until the end of December.
Baucom said there are quarterly clinics where a medical team comes from the United States to provide medical services. There are four to five villages that have medical personnel on staff already.
Items needed include antibiotic ointment (one-half or 1 ounce), hydrocortisone cream (one-half or 1 ounce), the smallest strength of reading glasses (no used glasses), Band-Aids®, eye drops, children's vitamins, dental floss and toothbrushes for children and adults.
The foundation is a non-profit Christian mission's organization with villages in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Villages are located in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia.
The foundation legally adopts and provides shelter, clothing, eduction and medical care to care for children orphaned by famine, war and illness.
Volunteer medical professionals come from the U.S. to operate clinics for the community.
Villages are designed to care for children from infancy to age 18, with the goal of nurturing needy African children into godly contributors in their countries. The foundation does not place children for adoption.
"The Rafiki Foundation takes in primarily orphans. Their parents may have died from AIDS and they have lived with a grandparent or an aunt who can't take care of them anymore," Baucom said.
Baucom said the community has already been responsive in donating items such as Band-Aids®, toothbrushes, alcohol pads and toothpaste.
"The goal is to give orphans hope and a future, and educate them to provide them with some kind of vocational skills," Baucom said.
The foundation pays for the children's education expenses and books raised through donations from the foundation.
The foundation provides a primary education program for first through sixth grade, and a secondary education program is provided for seventh through 10th grades in each of the 10 African villages.
The children are referred to the foundation by churches or by government agencies and are adopted legally in the country.
"Many of the children are suffering from such malnutrition that we have a difficulty determining their age," Baucom said.
In 2007, Baucom visited the Rafiki orphanage in Kenya for 10 days with his wife Pamela, and said it was a true life-changing experience.
Baucom helped design a playground park for the children in the village and started the work on it, with short-term missionaries finishing the work. He also tutored three boys in Kenya.
For more information about the foundation, visit www.rafikifoundation.org or contact Baucom at joebauc@aol.com
