New Daraja Video

Hi everyone!

In February, we had a new class of 26 students come to campus and luckily, there was a film crew that captured it all for a new short film. If you click on the link below, you can see a glimpse of what Daraja is like. You can see Matt in the film too! It was a wonderful week and I think you will really enjoy the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcPFkE5Vr0M


Love from Kenya,
Paria

Inner Strength

Lilian, the majestic young woman I spoke about two posts ago, came to me yesterday during dinner. She showed me a journal filled with writings she composed during the recent three-week school break. She enthusiastically agreed to let me share this with others. I am very thankful for that because her ability to maintain hope and simultaneously gain wisdom during hard times is something we can all learn from. Here are few excerpts:

“I once was in the midst of darkness when life tried to challenge my heart and mind. Goals seemed to be unachievable and though I was a failure, I embraced everything and empowered myself with trust, then went ahead and put on a spare tire of strong determination, added oil of perseverance, and changed my heart with positive network. Through the struggle I was able to learn that everything was and is achievable if we have passion and energy towards it.”

“True ladies never give up but accept the reality. The best part of experience is the ride itself. They accept disappointments, rejections and even failures and continue with the journey without turning back, because they know the only barrier that can hinder them or make them losers are they themselves.”

“My name is Lilian and we are only two in the family. My younger brother and I. Am a lady who was born with great ambition and a gift of love and trust. Part of my life is of giving what I know to others. Ability I have to make my future bright and full of happiness. Choices I have towards tomorrow. Am what I am today to make tomorrow great. I stand with what I know to do what I don’t know. Am a woman of integrity, strength and hope. I accept the realities and never give up. Also setting goals and dreams because everything worthwhile in life starts with a dream. I love helping and giving love to the rejected, giving them bundle of hugs and should to cry on. We are all equal and need great love. The purpose of this life is to be useful. Action springs not from thoughts but from readiness for responsibility.”

Can you imagine exuding this kind of insight at15 years old?! Despite being plagued with so many hardships in her past, the rest of her journal was similarly filled with love, hope, and wisdom.

A Day in the Life...

Before my arrival, I had a hard time describing to people what my average day would be like. A little over a month here and I can tell you that there is no average day. One day never looks like the other but I will try my best to paint you a picture….

I wake up every morning at 6:45am and have breakfast at 7:30am in the dining hall with fellow volunteers, staff and the students.

Then, I usually head to the office. A big part of my volunteer role is the same as what I had been doing for the organization at home- helping the infrastructure of the non-profit business. Even if an operation is considered nonprofit, it needs to run like a business. Nonprofits, like for-profit, rely on revenue - just not the typical convention. We rely on revenue through donations. So, in essence, the only department that is different than a corporation would be the Sales Team. Instead of a Sales team, a nonprofit has a Development Team and the development team is essentially responsible for educating prospective donors, foundations, etc about our cause and working hard to receive donations through fundraising practices (selling our cause, you could say). Other than that, however, a nonprofits operational infrastructure should ideally replicate corporations in order to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability.

Daraja is currently not at the corporation stage- we are more like a start-up company. So, parts of my day are filled with exactly what you just read- learning and implementing ways to improve infrastructure. Matt and I worked together to implement Salesforce prior to coming here. It is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) marketing tool that allows us to do everything from track donations and campaigns to provide dashboards on the business’ revenue since its existence. Matt is looking to add an email marketing and analytics application to the system, and I have been researching on what the best practices are for that and how we can implement them as soon as that application is enabled.

I also work on helping to put together the monthly newsletter, updating the social media, answering emails from the board, donors, and volunteers.

Some of my time is also spent serving as a Daraja/MS Kenya liaison. MS Kenya, Danish NGO on campus, has been renting out land on the Daraja campus. They bring about 20 volunteers per month to the campus straight from Denmark- These volunteers get trained here before they go to their respective placements all over Africa.

My work with MS Kenya is largely on organizing collaborations. For example, this week Mr. Charles (science teacher) and I are meeting with MS volunteers about a tutoring program where MS volunteers work with the Daraja students every Wednesday for two hours. Mr. Charles and I manage that program and monitor the tutoring activities each Wednesday night 7pm-9pm. Another task is MS/Daraja socialization where we unite the MS Kenya volunteers with the students. Last month, we had a talent show. Last night, we had a treasure hunt. There were 7 teams of 10 people (MS and Daraja students combined) and they had to go from station to station-think Amazing Race- and whoever got the most points in each station wins. It was very fun!!

Also, a couple of volunteers and I have been spearheading various clubs for the girls to join. The girls spend time on clubs every Monday 3:20pm-5pm. I am leading the “Grassroots Girls” club. This club is meant to educate the girls on how to make a difference using grassroots techniques. We are going to apply these techniques to help the women’s groups that are located in the rural communities around the school. Next Monday, we are going to visit one of the villages and speak with a women’s group to find out how we can help them. Now, a huge inspo for these girls an amazing Kenyan woman named Wangari Maathai. Having just read her memoir, I mentioned to the girls that a lot of the change she has created is through grassroots efforts. Thankfully, that helped enrollment into my club increase...to a skyrocketing 5 people!! It's not as cool as Art Club or Drama Club but I think it will catch on...(fingers crossed!)

I also do ANY type of sidework- cleaning out the dorms, sweeping, tutoring, participating in PE, etc.

This is my role as of now. I’m sure a month from now, a lot will change! But as you can see, it’s kind of all over the place. Sometimes I plan to go work in the office, then find out we have no electricity so I have to change my schedule. Sometimes, I plan to go into town to get work done, then I find out I have an important meeting in the middle of the day. It’s unpredictable but that’s part of the adventure.

To be honest, I haven’t done much traveling. During the weekdays, the students are really busy. Their schedules are packed from 7:30am to 9pm at night. Therefore, the best time to spend with them is on weekends so I try to stay on campus during the weekends. The girls leave for a school break during April- Matt and I plan to do some traveling then!

For those of you who are interested (or just really bored at work), you can check out the following links and you will get a really good idea of what life is like here:

Daraja Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/DarajaAcademy
Daraja Twitter: www.twitter.com/daraja
Matt’s Blog: http://intheshadowofmtkenya.blogspot.com/
Daraja Blog: http://daraja-academy.org/blog/

To put things into perspective: Right now, I'm at an internet cafe doing work while Creed is playing on the cafe's speakers and Matt is tutoring Alfred (aka Alfredo sauce). Alfred is the young street boy who was not begging for money. In fact, he was begging for an education and really wanted to go back to school. LUCKILY, thanks to Matt's hardwork and the help of the Daraja staff and Alfred himself, Alfred has been accepted to a school! His first day of school is supposed to be Monday :) :) :)

Castle in the Clouds

A year ago, I received an email from one of my best friends Chelsea. She had just done a segment on a couple that was preparing to move to Kenya to open an all girl’s school. At the time, I was sitting in my cube at work and the thought of living in Kenya to help seemed like a dream. Now, one year later and oddly enough on Chelsea’s birthday, I arrived on the Daraja campus.

Any time you chase a dream, finally fulfilling it, you wonder, is it as good as you imagined? The aesthetic beauty of the campus, the morning sounds of birds, and the peaceful calm of Kenyan rural life would be sufficient to say yes. Spending time with some of the most inspiring young women, however, makes this even better than anything I could have dreamed.

Prior to coming to Daraja, I knew a lot about the hardships each girl faced. Right before our arrival, one of the students had lost her brother, just one year after losing her father and two years after losing her mother. I come from a small family too. Losing one member would be life altering; losing the other would be inconceivable.

Yet, that girl I had pictured: sullen, thin, and morose was nowhere to be found. Just yesterday, I realized Wait…is the girl I have spent time with the past three weeks the same one who just lost her last family member? Those two girls could not be the same. The one I have gotten to know has the most radiant smile, and never fails to show it. She gives Matt and I hugs each time she sees us. She is also the one who rushes to other students when they are upset. THIS is the same girl that I have been reading about?

It’s not to say that she isn’t in pain. I don’t doubt that she feels the pain in her heart when she puts her head on the pillow to sleep at night. I don’t doubt that her heart breaks any time she sees a young man her brother’s age. I don’t doubt that she wishes she could call home to her mother like some of the other students.

The reality is, however, that the Daraja students don’t have the luxury to dwell on their difficult realities. They must continue studying, being strong and looking forward. Daraja is their way out. When I talk to the girls, they are still so amazed at the change in their destiny. Many times I have heard the girls say, “My life will be different from my mother’s.”
It is moments like when I know I am finally where I’m supposed to be. And my dream isn’t alone here; it’s accompanied by the dreams of 26 other girls. And thankfully, all of our dreams are slowly coming true.

Welcome to Daraja!

Hello everyone!

Matt and I arrived at Daraja Academy on January 23rd. It has been three weeks since we’ve arrived and it has been so much fun getting to know the girls, staff, and volunteers. I knew I would love it here, but I didn’t think it would happen so fast! It is not hard to feel welcome when everyone is full of smiles from the first day.

I’m going to try my best to explain the setting:

Daraja’s campus is 60 acres. There is an electrical fence around the land that was designed to keep elephants away although I highly doubt it could do this. Daraja is about 15 minutes from the nearest town called Nanyuki. In order to get to Nanyuki, we pass by herds of camels, zebras and cows. We also have to stop sometimes because groups of baboons are crossing the street. It is pretty cool.

Our neighbors include the local Maasai tribe. A distant neighbor is the British Army. I’m not sure exactly where they are located but the huge camouflage 4x4s that say “British Army” indicate they are along the same road. You can also see them at the local bar...the same bars that the prostitutes attend (you get the hint).

I live in a pretty big randoval that includes a bedroom, bathroom, shower, and living room. It is very cute. The bathroom can get pretty stinky due to the questionable sewing system and Im often taking showers with bugs. Our showers have to be infrequent and short because, when it doesn’t rain, there is no water in the river and the river is the source of our water. Needless to say, my usual 30-minute hot showers where I use every conditioner known to man for my hair are non-existent here in Kenya.

Animals on campus include cows, chickens, bats, sheep, dogs, cats and the most beautiful birds. I miss my cats but there are enough animals on campus to keep me occupied for now!

Since this is a boarding school, the students and staff live on campus. The girls live in the dorms and the staff live in the staffing housing with their families. In addition, MS Kenya, a Danish NGO, has rented some dorms on campus. The combination of all these different people makes for a very lively living situation. You can always find someone on campus to hang out with, whether it be little Stephen, the 4 yr old son of Beatrice, a woman in charge of the cleaning staff, or Mr. Charles, the dynamic physics and biology teacher.

Currently, we have 26 Daraja students on campus. They are part of the Form 2 (sophomore) class. These girls were the first class ever at Daraja Academy when the school opened last year in February. They have set the bar pretty high- these girls are incredible! They walk around smiling, giving hugs, and they work so hard in school. They are such warm girls which is amazing when you learn about the life they have had so far. I'll definitely write more about them.

On February 26th, the brand new Form 1 (freshman) class will begin their schooling at Daraja Academy. The Form 2 girls, along with most of Kenya’s students, have already began the new school year. However, Daraja postpones the start date for freshman because they want to make sure that the girls who are entering Daraja would literally not be going to school if it weren’t for this academy. (Sometimes, families act like they can’t afford it so that they could get a free education for their kid. By postponing the first day of school for Daraja freshman, we can be sure our incoming students would not be going to school otherwise.)

Our executive staff has been incredibly busy the past few weeks evaluating applications and traveling to different towns in Kenya interviewing girls for the upcoming Form 1 (freshman) class. I have been fortunate enough to help a bit with this process. It is an incredibly challenging endeavor and will write more about this later too.

Hopefully this introduction is sufficient for now. I look forward to writing more about getting to know the girls and the Kenyan people because that has been the best part of my stay. Let's just say it is hard to have a bad day when you hear "Paria, paria! I made this necklace for you!". (I am currently wearing two beaded becklaces, and two beaded bracelets).

Lots of hugs!

Back to Work

It´s Monday and I am actually excited to go back to work- The main reason why I decided to pursue social work for three weeks in Costa Rica was so that I could get a taste of the education system in developing countries. I had been forewarned that the discipline we see in American schools is not mirrored in the classrooms of developing countries and this has definitely been my experience so far.

In the school that I work at, each grade has one main teacher (similar to America). Each class has a forty minute period where the English teacher comes in and teaches to the class. This is where I come in. I help the school´s English teacher, Rosemary, with each of her classes. Every morning we go to about 5 classrooms. 5 classrooms, 30 kids each- That means 150 kids in four hours. Indeed the loudness level of each classroom is about 12 out of 10. (Don´t even ask me to measure the chaos at recess) The kids are all extremely loving, smiling and full of hugs but the typical class day is filled with half of them listening and the other half crawling up the walls. I realized recently that I´ve unconsciously nicknamed the school "The Madhouse". Each morning, I have the Eye of the Tiger playing in my head. I tend to have a warrior mentality- I am going to help the kids and work effectively in the chaotic structure. Given the structure of the classrooms, I mainly try to focus on the kids that are a little slower than others.

This past week Rosemary was giving tests all week to the different classrooms. I have to admit that I was nervous to see the results. With all the mayhem and questionable class assignments, I seriously couldn't´t imagine any of the students a) retaining anything b)giving a rat´s a-- if they even had a test.

The results, however, made me eat my words. I graded the tests of one class and found that only three did not pass. In fact, some of the students that were part of the rowdy crowds had some of the best grades. (Now I see why they created GATE- if you don´t challenge those students, then there is potential for them to disrupt the rest of the class out of boredom) I was the MOST surprised however at how much the students cared about having a test! I seriously thought the week was going to be a mild joke. However, all the students were relatively quiet and diligent when trying to answer each question. In fact, once the test was over, they would BEG the teacher to grade the tests right aways to that they could see the results. As I was grading some of the tests, they were swarming me like bees to honey. They cared so much!

This was a valuable lesson for me because it showed how vital cultural understanding is in order to have a successful and sustainable effect on the organizations you work with. This may seem obvious at first but I think you truly get tested when you are in a developing country because the flow of things can be so foreign.

Sure the Costa Rican methods were unconventional but it works in the realm of their culture. Just because the structure is more laid back doesn´t affect the children´s ability - and desire- to learn.


Also- there were a few stories I forgot to mention from my first week at the school. As I mentioned before, the students were able to ask me questions after I introduced myself. There was an adorable little girl who was raising her hand and jumping out of her seat like she was going to burst in 30 seconds if she didn't get to ask her question. Once she was called on, however, she just stood and stared and smiled. Then when the teacher would move on because the little girl wasn´t saying anything, the girl would right away raise her hand vehemently again...then just smile and say nothing. Clearly she was shy and it took about five cycles before she finally asked me the question- which I think it was something to the effect of do you have any siblings? Another little boy raised his hand all excited. His question was "Can you find my twin?" His twin who looked exactly like him was sitting two seats away. I was impressed that even though they have been twins for eight years now the excitement was clearly still there.

Last week, Rosemary asked me to watch the students for 15 minutes after the test. I had terror flashbacks of the week before kind of like a Vietnam war veteran. I was clearly frightened. This time, however, I asked them to draw me items in their notebooks. "Rainbow, tiger, mountain" I knew this would keep them a bit focused and I am so thankful that they did not ask me WHY the hell they were drawing these things. I love first graders.

Today Rosemary had meetings so there was no English class (they dont do subs) so I was able to work at a local orphanage with another volunteer. Many of the the kids are children of prositutes (fyi prostitution is legal here). The children often have the same mom but random dads. And as a Catholic country, many times the women don´t use condoms because the Pope has condemned this (thus buying condoms can often feel shameful so many dont do it).The kids were so sweet to each other. The oldest one was trying to take care of everyone, sometimes a little too agressively but hey it was well intentioned. They were so happy and smiley. The other volunteer said this is just a front and that they are usually terrors.

By the way, yesterday was my first Sunday in town. I noticed there was no one on the streets except for a few young couples. I knew that most people were likely in Church and thus the streets were quiet. I also remembered how our program director mentioned that Sunday was the most popular day in which condoms are sold. Since most Ticos live with their parents until they are married, Sunday they tell their parents that they are going to "church". Oh, but they are not.

What did I just do?

With the help of the public bus and a completely illegitimate "taxi", Mary and I arrived at La Fortuna last night after two hours of travel last night. The transportation is only supposed to take one hour but Mary and I are both new at this whole traveling in a developing country thing so two hours is actually really good for us. (Last weekend, "only a two hour trip!” took us six...we are improving). If you know me well, you will know that I HATE getting lost. I consider myself a laid back person but the minute I realize I’m lost, my stress level accelerates from 0 to 60 in one minute. (My brother can definitely attest to this! lol I thank navigators for improving my relationships with loved ones) Anyway, Mary was a good sport about it and just watched like an innocent bystander while I freaked out and then, like Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde, became as smiley as a nun once we finally reached La Fortuna. Now that we are here' The feel of La Fortuna is vastly different from the town I live in. Hearing English and seeing gringos with their huge backpacks is a common theme here. I’m currently in an "internet cafe" which is really two computers in someone’s living room...and the family is watching tv right now.. kind of awkward. There are also a few other tourists waiting to use the comp so Ill keep it simple. (ha)

Mary and I went rappelling today in the rainforest. We repelled down a 200 FOOT waterfall. I never in my life thought I would or could do this...it was frightening but amazing at the same time. Our tour guides were hilarious. At one point, we had to repel down a waterfall then jump into this huge scary pool in a cave type area. Mary was nervous and our guide "Marvin" offered some words of wisdom "If you feel too scared to jump, then............JUST JUMP" and then he proceeded to laugh his head off. Disclaimer: People really like weed in La Fortuna and I’m pretty sure our tour guides picked us up and one of them, named Marvin, was definitely high. He kept calling Mary -- Mary Jane. He later put these huge leaves in his hair, clay on his face and kept saying "HOW" like a Native American. There was also a photographer named "Danny Boy" who took pictures of us during the trek. If we ever began slipping or missed a step and got an inch closer to death, they would jus say "We got proof! We got proof!" Proof of what? Me about to die? then they’d just laugh some more. It was oddly comforting. I kind of felt like I was in college again- where you feel invincible and you always think, no matter what ridiculous circumstance that you are in, that everything is going to be just fine.

I wish I remembered more stories but I bought the CD filled with our pictures so hopefully that will help me remember more stuff. I know some of you SR ladies have taken up the sport of rock-climbing, I am so down to do that with you guys!

Having conquered repelling, Mary and I were on a high. Another popular activity? Bungee Jumping. We went to go check out the bungee jump place. After watching one guy do the bungee and negotiating a price, I agreed to do it. After all, the guy who was telling me about it looked like a sweet man who couldn’t hurt a fly. I felt comfortable and trusted him. Sure sweet-faced man, I’ll do as you say. Another one of the workers looked like a Yahoo! employee I worked with (who in turn reminded me of Kian) so I instantly felt comfortable. I tend to see extremely strange resemblances and it definitely deceived me in this case. Side note: I’m pretty sure he was high too because he was just smiling and laughing at nothing even though we were about 200 feet in the air. I cant lie that at that point I also figured- Hey, I did repelling, I can totally handle another extreme thrill activity.

Oh god, I was so wrong. HOLY HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so scared in MY ENTIRE LIFE. I was totally fine on the way up. Even as they were getting the gear on me, I completely cleared my mind and didn’t allow myself to think negative thoughts. Volcano Arenal was right in front of me and I focused on its beauty. Thats it. I’m fine. I tried to block out the cars that pulled over to watch me jump. Families with their kids. Oh god, how am I going to die in front of these kids? Then, they warned me that I need to jump when they are counting down. If I dont do it then, Ill never do it. Still fine. Ok, then I realize that this is nothing like repelling and I literally feel like I am jumping without any safety gear. I cannot tell you how FRIGHTENED I was when they were counting down. All of a sudden, all the fear that I withheld moments before was now hitting me. I DID NOT WANT TO JUMP But at that moment I knew they were right, if I didn’t do it then, then it would be soooooooooo much worse. So I finally jumped and oh my god I’m pretty sure my stomach came out of my mouth. Luckily it didn’t but I have never felt like that in my life. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH I get freaked out just thinking of it.

The funny thing is that the guy who did this right before me was throwing a thumbs up, smiling, posing for pictures. Uh, Mary showed me the film of me jumping and I looked like a dead corpse.

I’m definitely glad I did it and I definitely hugged all the employees once I reached the bottom. They probably thought I was crazy. Actually they kept asking us if we wanted to go dancing. Buddy, I just survived a bungee fall I cant think of anything else right now.