“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” (Psalm 16:6)
If you have been to Rafiki’s Home Office, you have no doubt noticed the way everything is appropriately decorated. That is because as we were planning the buildings, I enlisted my oldest daughter, Annie, to help us. She is very artistic and at present designs houses in Saint Augustine, FL. (If you live in the Saint Augustine area, I can tell you how to get in touch with her.) As we were building the Home Office she suggested that we save money and give the buildings an African look, by making all the floors stained concrete. Her husband, who has a construction business, designed and built the gazebo that stands in the middle of the complex. Annie put up all the pictures and curtains in all the buildings. To me, the most impressive thing she did was to furnish and decorate the Exchange building. She put in my old table, put a hole in it, and put up a grass umbrella over it resembling a hut in Africa. She single-handedly installed tin wainscoting, wallpaper, and even painted signs in Swahili on the walls. It was fun watching her high up on the ladder painting the walls and the signs. It was, and is still, perfect!
Annie has a daughter named Jenna Alexander. After Jenna finished college, she spent a year in Tanzania as a Rafiki missionary. She loved it and the children adored her. While there, she began painting some of the children—just for fun. When she returned to the United States, she came to work for Rafiki at the Home Office where she helped with Rafiki’s website for two years. Then she married and moved to Saint Augustine, FL. She now has an art studio and thriving business. Check her out at www.jenna-alexander.com
The next building that Rafiki will construct on its property is the Rafiki Classical Academy. It is where children in K-8 will be educated. I hope that as Rafiki builds this Rafiki Classical Academy that Annie will help with the design of the interior and that many of Jenna’s paintings will hang on the walls. That would make “mom and grandmama” very happy.