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!