Sunday evening

Jambo!

For me, yesterday evening was one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've had so far at Daraja. The music and dance exchange groups, lead by Paige, Sumari, Lauren, Lizzy, and myself, finally presented what we had been working on. The entire Daraja community harmonized on the classic gospel songs, “Wade in the Water,” and “Down by the River to Pray,” and the songs sounded fuller than we'd heard the all week, as we'd been working with either one form or half of one form at a time. We also sang “Chaupele,” a Swahili song taught to us by the Daraja girls. For the first time, the room was dead quiet, without even a single chuckle at our pronunciation.

After the singing, the girls demonstrated the hip-hop moves taught to them by Paige and Sumari, inluding the Jerk, the Electric Slide, and the Dougie, followed by a brief dance party. Jono krumped to Black and Yellow, forcing Ragina (a form 2 Daraja girl) into a corner where she hunched fearfully laughing. I think we all had a great time, including me, as I managed to avoid the dancing by allowing Bennie, a Daraja friend, to give me several cornrows.

This morning we all enjoyed Kenyan doughnuts and hot chocolate, followed by a 2-hour student-led spiritual time. The Daraja girls divide themselves into Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim groups, and the MA students have attended the service of their choice. A large group of MA students went to the Muslim service this morning, lead by five of the seven Muslim Daraja girls, and held in the mosque provided by the school. Generally, as explained by the girls, it is a time to read passages from the Koran and advise each other if life issues arise, but today it was a Q&A about Islamic practices at Daraja and in African tribes that eventually became a general discussion of religion.

After services, the day was devoted to the projects run by MA student leaders. I attended a journaling workshop, lead by Megan and Alison, in which mixed groups of MA and Daraja students shared journal entries and began to work on character development in preparation for a creative writing assignment.

I also worked on replastering the Shamba shed, lead by Lizzy and Jane. When all 77 girls joined in from 4-5, it got a bit chaotic, and most of us ended up with cobb “war paint” by the end of it. It was productive nonetheless: we have completed over half of the replastering, and should definitely be able to finish before our departure Friday morning.

After plastering, I attended my first WISH meeting, lead by Kenia, Lauren, Erin, Alison, and Olivia. We played agree/disagree, with thought-provoking questions centered around questions of gender equality and gender stereotypes. It was fascinating to hear the similarities and differences of opinion here, and to hear opinions completely unheard of at MA.

After WISH, we sat down to a meal of ugali and beans, and then dispersed into our various study hall rooms, where we are currently helping with homework, chatting about our days, and in my case, updating the blog.

I have had an amazing time so far at Daraja; the girls have shown themselves to be even kinder, even more driven, even better friends to us than I could have imagined.

We all miss our family and friends at home, but every day we're here, we're making memories to last a lifetime.

Goodnight, everyone!

Julia

Jono helps out in our Form 1 photography workshop

Sunday afternoon is "Reading" time...

EVERYONE reads - there are people everywhere with books and magazines

Then it was down to the Shamba Shed to replaster it...

Jane and Lizzy supervised the process

...it was a hands-on experience...

...there was some degree of "art" involved...

...don't worry mom's, it all 'eventually' washed off.  ;-)

The afternoon ended with another in the series of journaling workshops...

...the students were asked to create a fictional character

...and then it was Ugali for dinner.