The Daraja Academy wants to give the gift of education to girls who have not yet received it. There are countless Kenyans who have already benefited from the effects of education. In this video, three such Kenyans–Peter Wathitu, Director of Operations for the Daraja Academy, Dr. Sangai Mohochi, Swahili professor at Stanford University and Board Member for the Daraja Academy, and Josephine Wathitu, Swahili teacher and wife of Peter–speak about their views on education and Daraja. These three inspiring individuals stand as wonderful examples and role models for what can be accomplished through education.
As most teachers do, when it comes to essays I am forever goading my students to answer the “5 W’s”. This time tested method of answering who, what, when, why, where and how can bring a once hazy subject into a much clearer focus, including a student’s grade.
I believe that most of Daraja Academy’s “5 W’s” have been answered by the web site, our newsletter or in this blog, however, here’s a quick review:
WHAT? – Daraja Academy is a girl’s secondary school; similar to a high school in the U.S. Daraja is a boarding school, where Kenyan girls of poverty are provided with full room and board. WHEN? – Though the dream of Daraja Academy has been germinating in my heart since the late ‘80s, the formal process began only a few years ago. The Carr Educational Foundation (CEF) was created and became an incorporated non-profit organization in early 2007. CEF’s mission was to provide an opportunity for children who where driven and genuinely desired the chance to further their educations but were unable to due to a lack of resources. The Daraja Academy of Kenya is the CEF’s first project and it will begin educating its first class of students in February 2009. WHY? – As stated above, those who support the Daraja cause believe that all children deserve access to education. After two trips and much research, the Carr Educational Foundation determined that in Kenya, it was girls of poverty who where the most underserved group when it came to progressing from primary school to secondary school. CEF’s research also determined that educating girls of poverty at Daraja Academy would have far reaching effects on those girl’s families, villages and tribes; if not their countries as a whole. WHERE? – The Daraja Academy campus lies on a beautiful swath of land 20 kilometers northwest of Nanyuki, in the east African nation of Kenya. The equator runs directly through Nanyuki town, which is nestled on the northwestern slopes of Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak. The campus rests at an elevation of just over 7,000 feet, putting it above the malaria line and keeping its climate fairly temperate. HOW? – Daraja Academy is fortunate to be supported by generous individuals, organizations, universities and corporations in the U.S., Kenya and abroad. It has also received support and funding from foundations, and continues to research and foster these avenues. However, a collaborative relationship has been stuck between Daraja Academy and the Danish volunteer organization M.S. Kenya. This relationship allows M.S. Kenya a home base on a portion of the Daraja campus to train its volunteers before they leave to other parts of the African continent. Daraja Academy benefits from the attention paid to its students by the Danish volunteers, while a portion of its expenses are covered by the mutually beneficial partnerships, thus making Daraja Academy more financially sustainable.
BUT WHO IS DARAJA ACADEMY? The physical beauty of the campus is awe inspiring, but it is the thriving community that lives there which truly makes it stand out. In the upcoming Blog entry’s I will introduce the wonderful people who give Daraja life…
Kenya was calling and the Doherty’s finally answered…
Five days ago and a few minutes before midnight, Jenni and I landed in Nairobi. After a quick visit to the M.S. Kenya headquarters the next morning, we left Kenya’s capital for campus with Daraja’s Dir. Of Operations Peter Wathitu, Andy Harley and Katie Ireland. Andy has been working hard on campus since he arrived in October, while Katie, a primary school teacher from Salinas, arrived the day before us, to lend a hand getting the campus prepped for the students who will be arriving in early February. Though lacking space, the cramped 4×4 did not lack an excited energy as we snaked our way north through the deep green central highlands of Kenya.
Though I had spent the better part of three months on campus this summer, it was the first time that Jenni and I would have been there together since our first introduction to the magical place on the second to last day of our “find-a-place-for-the-Daraja-campus-tour of 2007.” We were both excited, but I was a little nervous… what if she didn’t love the place as much as I, what if she didn’t see the potential that I did? what if, what if, what if… the worry was for not.
Driving through the gates that evening was not anti-climactic. During the hour before the sun drops below the African horizon, every tree, flower and blade of grass lights up with a golden glaze that only this continent understands how to cast. Those who have been here can speak to the absolutely unique hue that an African evening possess’ and it was in that hue that we arrived.
Seeing the staff again was incredible! Hugging Peter Rutere, Ruth, Lauren and of course, Kenya and Tusker, our skinny dogs – was second best only to watching Jenni greet and put a face to the people who had only been names in her imagination until that point. The dream that she and I had ridden so hard, finally had a home to rest and grow, full of incredibly capable people who believed in its purpose. We both cried.
The last few days have been a combination of “meet, greet and renovation.” Sometimes you can just feel when something is right. There is an incredibly rewarding feeling that comes with sweating in the hot sun, getting classrooms ready for girls who this autumn believed their futures were so bleak, but will soon discover the exact opposite.
The roots of this dream that is Daraja sprouted in the belief that people would rally to a worthy cause; in this case, providing access to a better future for girls of poverty who deserved one. The past few years have proved that this belief was true. If you are part of the Daraja family, take the opportunity that is this holiday season to tell others about the project, if you are not part of the family, join it. There is plenty of room for more.
An article came out in Wednesday’s Marin Independent Journal in anticipation of Jason and Jenni’s imminent departure to Kenya, which is happening next week. Click here to go to the article, and also the text is pasted below. Consider donating now to send Jason and Jenni off with our full support!
Jenni and Jason Doherty pack boxes in their San Rafael home. They are moving to Kenya to start a school for girls. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)
When Jason Doherty asked his wife Jenni to leave her friends, her job and her San Rafael home to open a boarding school for girls in Kenya, she didn’t immediately leap at the opportunity.”I think I said ‘OK,’ but I wasn’t 100 percent sure,” said Jenni Doherty, a research associate at WestEd, a San Francisco consulting firm.
After she traveled to Kenya in 2006, however, “it was a done deal,” said Doherty, 28. “Africa changes something in you. For me, it was going to the slums of Nairobi and seeing the little girls with their torn clothing standing in front of me.”
On Monday, the Dohertys will move to Nanyuki, Kenya, and begin the process of readying Daraja Academy for its first class in February. The project is the fulfillment of a decade’s worth of effort by Jason Doherty, a history teacher in Vallejo who previously taught at San Rafael’s Terra Linda High School.
“This started as a dream,” said Doherty, 34, who visited Africa as a child and later taught for a year at Makambako Secondary School in Tanzania. “But a dream is not worth doing if it doesn’t end up doing good for other people. A lot of people who have started similar projects didn’t do their research. They didn’t find out what Africa needed.”
With Daraja Academy – the name means “bridge” in Swahili – Doherty hopes to provide access to high school for academically talented Kenyan girls who cannot afford to pay tuition.
“Most (Kenyan) families are not willing to pay for women to go to school,” said Bob Bessin, a math teacher at Woodside Priory, a Portola Valley private school, who serves on the Daraja Academy board and visited the school last summer. “And yet girls essentially manage families.
The Dohertys traveled to East Africa in 2006 to scout out sites for their dream, and stumbled upon what seemed to be the perfect opportunity: the Baraka School, an American institution whose owners were looking to sell.
The school, featured in the 2005 documentary “The Boys From Baraka,” had housed an immersion program for troubled 12-year-old boys from Baltimore schools.
“The program was really working. A lot of the boys flourished,” Jason Doherty said. “But once the ‘war on terror’ got going, travel became much harder, and the school’s insurance went through the roof. They had to shut down.”
Although the Dohertys eventually hope to house 200 students at Daraja Academy, the school’s first class will include only 25, drawn from three areas. By bringing together girls from many parts of Kenya, the Dohertys and others believe they can lay a foundation for the nation’s future.
“We wanted these girls to not only be educated, but to understand what it is like to be part of other tribes and other regions,” Bessin said. “They can be a stabilizing force economically and politically in a place that has recently had a lot of tribal conflict.”
Daraja Academy will share space at the former Baraka School with MS Kenya, a Danish volunteer organization that will pay for 40 percent of the school’s initial expenses, the Dohertys said.
As heads of the San Rafael-based Carr Educational Foundation, the couple has reached out to friends, neighbors and foundations for other donations. An ongoing holiday fund drive asks donors to contribute whatever they can, from $11 for a backpack to the $3,579 it costs to educate a single student for one year.
Several local schools have contributed to the campaign. In Kentfield, Kent Middle School student Megan Oeschel raised $2,123 for Daraja Academy through a bake sale and information booth at the Woodlands Market.
“It just seemed like it was the right cause to raise money for,” said Oeschel, an eighth-grade student. “Kids in Kenya don’t get an education like we do here.”
As their school begins to take shape and they adjust to living in Africa, the Dohertys plan to keep in touch with family and friends through e-mail, newsletters and an ongoing web log.
In the mean time, the couple is adjusting its expectations.
“We have running water, which is great,” Jenni Doherty said. “And we have a generator in place, so we’ll have two hours of electricity each night.”
