Dr. Terry Davis didn’t give it a second thought after he advised an Anglican minister from Kenya about starting an organization to benefit orphans there many years ago.
He put the conversation out of his mind until the Rev. Dr. John Mungai Nganga sent him some literature in 2004, describing the project he had undertaken and asking if Davis would like to lend a hand.
Now, almost a decade later, Davis and his wife, Barbara, of Upper Arlington have made trip after trip to Kenya and played a major role in the further development and success of the Rafiki Children’s Center in Kikuyu Town, not far from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
Nganga founded the Marafiki Global AIDS Ministry Inc. in 1995, aiming to do something for the growing number of children in his country who were orphaned when their parents died of AIDS. He opened the center in 1998.
“It has been John’s dream to create an orphanage to take care of some of these kids,” Terry says.
“Rafiki” is a Swahili word for “friend” or “pal.” “Marafiki” means “many friends.”
Terry met Nganga through work at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Terry was chief of pediatric heart surgery; Nganga was a resident chaplain.
Terry was a pediatric heart surgeon for almost his entire career, and throughout the course of it, he went on medical missions to Africa as well as to Central and South America. Nganga asked him for advice on getting his orphanage started, and Terry gave him some general tips on such topics as establishing 501c3 status and getting involved with Rotary International to be eligible for grants.
When Nganga contacted Terry in 2004 to let him know his project was under way, Terry went to Kenya and quickly recognized Rafiki as an opportunity to continue to do important work for children in less fortunate countries.
Since then, he and Barbara have worked to raise money for the center and help it any way they can. Terry estimates he’s been to Kenya about 15 times, and Barbara 10.
The center gets its funding from a variety of sources, but the majority of it – more than $270,000 – comes from central Ohio, most of that coming through the Davises’ church, First Community Church in Grandview Heights. Local Rotary clubs, including UA’s, also contribute.
The quilting group at First Community, of which Barbara is a member, also helped out by making each child at Rafiki a quilt, complete withan embroidered name.
“Most of them have never had anything of their own, much less something that beautiful with their name embroidered on it,” Terry says.
The center has continually evolved from its earliest days in a rented house. Its organizers bought land and built new facilities there.
The installation of a well in 2005 made a huge difference, allowing for clean water and irrigation. The facility now has two 50-bed dormitories, a dining hall, a medical clinic (named for the Davises), a school, a farm, a shopping center, two fish ponds, a biogas facility and an athletic facility, and a technical school is being built now.
“We have about 50 kids under roof, (and) we have another 50 kids that we’re helping with school fees and uniforms,” Terry says. “The goal is to have 100 kids under roof and 500 kids that we’re helping.”
The school, Rafiki Academy, just opened last year, and currently offers preschool and grades K-4; 110 students are enrolled. Bringing the educational component in-house was another major step forward for Rafiki, Terry says; not only was paying children’s fees at other schools expensive, those schools were also overcrowded and short on supplies.
The new school caps class sizes at 25 students and has proven popular in the community; only about one-third of students live at Rafiki, while the others come from town. The academy will soon offer up to eighth grade, and its early work with children has already started to pay off; many who started there have graduated high school, and some of the earliest students have started careers.
“The first girl out is now a lawyer,” Terry says. “(She) is working with a bank in town and wants to be an advocate for AIDS orphans.”
The goal is to give these children who have lost their families the benefits of being part of one – food, shelter, educational, medical care and a sense of self-worth.
“They go from street kids who just have no hope to solid human beings with a future ahead of them,” Terry says.
And more than just children are benefiting from the center. The clinic, which is not limited to children, has the best laboratory in the region and is open all week.
“We charge $1 for an adult visit, 50 cents for a kid visit,” Terry says.
The center also employs local residents to harvest and to build, and has brought in a dentists to offer free clinics to individuals who have not had proper dental care in many years.
The Davises also founded the Dr. Terry and Barbara Davis Marafiki Golf Tournament, an annual event held in central Ohio that benefits the center. This year’s takes place July 13 at Foxfire Golf Club in Lockbourne.
Though their work with Rafiki is important, Terry and Barbara find other ways to get involved in the community as well.
Barbara, an author who published a book on quilting titled Sacred Threads, is a spiritual director at the church and spends a lot of time helping with its quilt ministry’s other endeavors. Terry no longer performs surgery at Nationwide Children’s, but he serves as associate chief medical officer and co-medical director for patient safety, is involved in the Cap Square Rotary and plays washtub bass for local bluegrass outfit Grassinine.
The couple has two grown sons and four grandchildren.
Those interested in contributing to Rafiki can do so directly via its website, www.marafikikenyaorphans.org, or through First Community Church.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
