Sunday Evening

Today was a pretty relaxing day at Daraja Aacademy for us. In the morning we had a lot of free time, but towards the end of the day we had a couple of Marin Academy-led meetings. We first had breakfast with the girls and everyone had the option, but were strongly encourged to attend  a religious ceremony. There are religious ceremonies for Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims. Everyone chose to attend regardless of their religious affiliation.

After having  a group discussion about the ceremonies it seems like everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was interesting to see how dedicated these girls were to lead the meetings all by themselves and it is completely up  to them if they want to participate. The girls were very emotional but still made us visitors feel welcome.

Later on in the day the we had three different Marin  Academy student led workshops. Megan aand Alison led their second journaling meeting and everyone says by staying in the same groups with the girls from last time and sharing more personal stories a stronger bond has been formed. We wrote about things such as people who motivate us, tribes and traditions and also gave the Daraja girls an opportunity to ask us some questions about our school. Lauren, Julia, and Lizzy led a singing workshop where they taught the girls one song and in return the girls taught them a song in Swahili. Finally, Sumari and Paige taught a dance workshop and taught them the culture of some new American dance styles.
Overall, the girls seem to really be enjoying all the new things we have showed them about our country, and we are definitely enjoying everything they have taught us so far.
Sincerely,

Sumari