LAST LESSONS #187 — LAST LESSONS — QUESTIONS 1

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

I like it when some of you ask questions because then I write what you really want to hear from me. Recently a friend of mine asked me why Rafiki no longer takes orphans into our Villages. Let me give you a bit of Rafiki history.

In 1987 when Rafiki was legally constituted as a 501(c)3 organization, we did not have orphans in mind. We were aware of the AIDS situation that left many children without parents, but it was not until 1992 when Janet Museveni (First Lady of Uganda) asked Rafiki if we could help her take care of the one and a half million orphans in Uganda that we prayed about what Rafiki should do.

Rafiki had no money to build an orphanage! But we prayed as a board, knowing that God would answer our prayer somehow.

In 2000 BSF gave me a going-away present. When they asked me what I wanted, I said, “AN ORPHANAGE!” So, they gave me enough money to build the first orphanage—not in Uganda, but in Ghana. That was because we found 50 acres of land in Ghana on which to build.

During the next ten years, Rafiki built ten orphanages in ten countries in Africa and began taking in orphans. Some of those orphans are now finished with university, married, and have children.

As the AIDS situation improved, the orphan population declined and the “third world countries” decided that they no longer wanted to institutionalize their orphans. Instead, they wanted to place orphans with relatives. That was a great decision!

In the meantime, Rafiki had hundreds of children. We decided that we would keep the children until they were able to finish college or become independent. In the meantime, we would use the vacated cottages as schoolrooms for the many day students needing education.

The question is a good one and the answer is one that brings great glory to God. Look what he did! He brought a cure for AIDS, he gave orphans homes to live in, and he gave schoolchildren a place to be educated—and especially to study the Bible!