Rafiki Thabo Foundation, which changes the lives of children in East and Southern Africa through access to education, have recently had their second BBC Radio 4 Charity Appeal, presented by their patron Amar Latif OBE – celebrity blind traveller and TV personality.
Rafiki Thabo Foundation, which is based in Oxfordshire, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, was chosen as one of the charities to benefit from BBC Radio 4’s Charity Appeal in June, showcasing its impact and appealing for donations from listeners.
The charity is so grateful to their generous supporters and BBC Radio 4 listeners whose donations mean that the entire 4 year secondary education for 23 vulnerable children in Kenya will be paid for. This will make a massive difference to their future life opportunities and enable them and their families to escape the cycle of poverty they were trapped in.
The charity’s Director Janet Hayes says: “We are so immensely grateful to everyone who donated to our appeal, helping us raise just short of twenty-five thousand pounds, a fantastic amount! One year at secondary school for a child in Kenya costs £270, yet this is simply out of reach for so many families, and 1.4 million* children have no choice but to drop out after primary school. Education is vital to securing decent paid work, and without it these children’s future is bleak. We are pleased to be able to change this for the 450 children and young people we are supporting through education this year – but we desperately wish to help transform more young lives – so many are still out of school. Thanks to the generous donations to our BBC Radio 4 Appeal we will be able to welcome a further 23 children onto our scholarship programme.”
This is not the first time the small but mighty charity has been successful in their application to the BBC, having had their first Appeal in 2022. In fact, it was that appeal, also presented by Amar Latif, which moved the inspirational celebrity blind adventurer and TV personality to become Rafiki Thabo Foundation’s patron.
Amar, who is a guest presenter on The One Show and has presented travel programmes including Travelling Blind with Sara Pascoe and Myths and Legends with Jonathan Ross, is no stranger to taking on challenges many would believe insurmountable for a blind person. In 2023 he climbed Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for Rafiki Thabo, joined by their other patron, England Cerebral Palsy Football star, Harry Baker. The two built a close friendship with the charity’s graduate Ayiesa Ohese – whose story Amar presented on BBC Radio 4 in June.
Photo credit: @TheoBlossom
Amar Latif OBE, said: “I am so proud to support Rafiki Thabo Foundation. Speaking to Ayiesa and learning his inspiring story is a reminder of how different my life could have been if I had been born in Pakistan where my parents are originally from and where views towards disability are very different. My blindness could have meant I ended up begging on the streets. Having access to education has given me opportunities to have a successful business and travel the world, and I want to pay that forward by raising awareness of the work Rafiki Thabo does and encourage everyone to donate to help more children have the best chance in life.”
Photo credit: @TheoBlossom
Rafiki Thabo’s Head of Fundraising Janne Pilbeam says of their two patrons: “We are incredibly lucky to have the support of Amar and Harry. Both have overcome such challenges in their lives to achieve the success they now enjoy. Their determination and refusal to conform to society’s perception of living with disability is so inspirational: Amar lost his sight at 18 and Harry’s parents were told he would never talk or walk, yet both have gone on to achieve amazing things. Their deep connection and affinity with our work to remove barriers to education for children, many of whom have a disability, provide such motivation to our scholars and graduates that they too can transform their futures.”
Over the last two decades the charity has directly supported almost 1,000 children and young people in Kenya, Uganda and Lesotho to study at school, college and university through its scholarship programme. It has also funded a school meals programme since 2012, paid for improvements to the learning environment in four partner schools, and works with partner organisations to remove barriers to education for children living with autism and cerebral palsy.
Amar Latif adds: “The transformation to Ayiesa’s life is testament to the impact of their work – from growing up in poverty with malnutrition, unable to attend school but raising enough funds from odd jobs to pay for his exams, which he studied for on his own, to eventually graduating from university with Rafiki Thabo’s support and now working for the government, paying for his four children – and two other children – to go to school, mentoring 25 young people in his community and running one of Rafiki Thabo’s partner organisations in Kenya – Dadashi Special Children’s Centre which provides a range services to children with developmental disabilities and their families on the edge of a slum in Nairobi. Like 85% of Rafiki Thabo’s graduates he is paying it forward! This is what I want for so many more children in Africa, and why I am so passionate about the work of this wonderful charity.”
Harry Baker also supported the BBC Radio 4 Appeal with his own video message to the public, saying it was vital to him that people get behind Rafiki Thabo Foundation and support them because “all people deserve a chance of education regardless of their background, where they come from, what country they live in.” A video message that was amplified by the England Cerebral Palsy Football team.
Photo credit: @TheoBlossom
If you missed the Appeal on Radio 4 and wish to make a donation, please visit the charity’s website where you can also hear Amar share Ayiesa’s story and why education does not simply transform one life – it creates ripple effects that can change generations. https://rafiki-foundation.org.uk/rafiki-thabo-foundation-on-bbc-radio-4/
About Rafiki Thabo Foundation
Rafiki Thabo Foundation is a charity which helps disadvantaged children and young people in communities in Uganda, Kenya and Lesotho to access education through scholarships, school improvement projects, school meals, and by removing specific barriers to education for children with disabilities, empowering them to escape the poverty cycle, fulfil their potential and achieve their ambitions.
The charity was founded by Oxfordshire-based garden designer Jon Uglow, in 2006. He had volunteered for a year in Kenya and saw first-hand that children in his host community were missing out on schooling as their families couldn’t afford to pay for it.
Wanting to make a difference, Jon started paying the school fees of children he had met so they could continue with their education. He realised others from the same gap year organisation he had been on were doing the same – in Uganda and Lesotho. They decided to start a charity and called it Rafiki Thabo Foundation – Rafiki means ‘friend’ in Swahili (spoken in Kenya) and Thabo means ‘joy’ in Sesotho (spoken in Lesotho).The charity, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, provides a scholarship programme, school meals, improves school facilities, and works to reduce the particular barriers to education faced by children with disabilities.
Education is critical to escaping hunger and the poverty cycle – a springboard for children of all abilities to fulfil their potential – and yet the families of millions of children around the world cannot afford their school fees.
Around 8 out of 10 children in Uganda are unable to access secondary school, only 1 in 20 make it onto higher education. 2.6 million* children in Kenya are out of primary and secondary school due to poverty. (*Source: UNESCO Report 2026)
Without support, these children would remain trapped in poverty, working the land, or be married off at a tender age to ease their family’s burden.
The charity has directly supported 975 children and young people to study in Kenya, Lesotho and Uganda at school, college and university through its scholarship programme. Supporting 450 children in 2026 alone. It has also funded a school meals programme since 2012 and paid for improvements in schools in the area – building dormitories, toilet facilities, classrooms, science labs, teachers’ accommodation, installing solar panels, and providing IT, science lab and sports equipment, benefiting many thousands of children using those schools. It also works to remove barriers to education for children living with developmental disabilities.
Those who have been funded by Rafiki Thabo have gone on to be teachers, accountants, business leaders, entrepreneurs, police officers, army officers, NGO workers, doctors, nurses, midwives and more.
85% of Rafiki Thabo’s scholarship programme graduates are now ‘paying it forward’ by supporting other children through education or helping others in their local communities.
Harry Baker recently acquired his 65th CAP playing for the England Cerebral Palsy Football team. Harry will once again represent his country in October when the squad travels to Atlanta, Georgia for the 2026 IFCPF Men’s World Cup. Harry also climbed Kilimanjaro for Rafiki Thabo together with Amar and Ayiesa in 2023 and has supported both BBC Radio 4 Appeal campaigns.
Harry became a patron of the charity after he supported Oxford United in the Community during COVID by speaking to children in their weekly online forums for children who were missing their opportunity to play football. The charity’s Head of Fundraising’s son attended the sessions, and one day told his mum about how he had met an England footballer – it made his week, it brought such joy back into her young son, that Janne contacted Harry to express her gratitude. That was the beginning of a friendship which turned into a passionate patronage for the charity.
