Daraja Blog Post Three

On Friday morning, we drove to the village of Mara Moja, near the old Daraja campus, where we met Stanley Kinyua, the founder of Shed A Light. Shed A Light is a library and a place where kids can go after school to study. Nearby, we visited a preschool that utilizes a feeding program run by Stanley. There we played with the kids, and learned about their education. They were 3 to 4 years old and didn’t know much English, but we loved running around and playing games with them! Even though the Shed A Light organization and preschool are growing, there is still a need for common utilities like toilets and wifi. After leaving Shed A Light, we visited the nearby Rititi Primary School, where we met with the assistant head teacher and received a tour of their campus. We got to see their preschool classes, as well as the older classes. The Rititi Primary School is still in need of one more classroom, an admin block, and more bedrooms for boarding. 

Back at the Daraja campus in the afternoon, we were able to have a Swahili lesson with Purity, an Administrative Assistant at Daraja, and got to meet with the executive director and founder of Daraja, Jenni Doherty. With Jenni, we had a meaningful conversation about the various backgrounds and struggles of Daraja girls, reflected on our homevisit, and talked about Daraja’s main mission. 

The next day, we drove to Spinners and Weavers of Nanyuki, an organization founded by and for women, where we got to explore the process of wool cleaning, spinning, and finally weaving. We also visited their shop and got to see all of the beautiful carpets, placemats, and shawls that they create for sale. After visiting the Spinners and Weavers of Nanyuki, we drove to the Simama Children’s Home. During our visit, we got to see their living conditions and the work that Simama is doing for children from difficult backgrounds who are in need of a home and education. Their bunk beds had up to three beds stacked and we learned that some smaller kids had to share beds. Even though their living conditions were not ideal, they were still an improvement compared to their previous homes. We enjoyed our time with them, playing soccer, learning their stories, and talking about what they want to be when they grow up. For lunch, we went to a special restaurant, Trout Tree. The restaurant is built around a symbolic fig tree, and below it is a trout farm. A friend of Jenni and Jason’s and also a worker at Trout Tree, Joseph, showed us around and we even got to feed the colobus monkeys! One of the monkeys named Marrero had an adorable baby monkey named Diana. Over the weekend, we visited the  Ol Pejeta Conservancy and went on a five-hour game drive where we got to see elephants, rhinos, chimpanzees, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, impalas, and many birds. At one point we were nearly charged by an overprotective father rhino, but we made it out okay, and it was definitely a memorable experience! 

The images: 

The new library space at Shed A Light – in need of a few more tables and chairs

Playing with the preschool children near Shed A Light

One of the weavers at Spinners and Weavers

One of the colobus monkeys at Trout Tree

Various pictures at Ol Pejeta.  The rhino being petted is Baraka (“blessed” in Kiswahili), a blind black rhino, 30 years old.