Jua Kali in Swahili literally translates as “Hot Sun”. It also is a commonly used colloquialism that refers to a class of workers who get by on initiative, applied knowledge of their trade and experience rather than extensive technical training and a high-end shop and equipment. Nearly all jua kali workers do in fact work out in the hot African sun, most often on roadsides, abandon lots or parks. There are jua kali tailors, jua kali welders, jua kali mechanic etc. Often their work is comparable or better than their top end competition and it is always cheaper.

Jua Kali is also the name of a town that sits along the road 5 kilometers south of the Daraja Academy campus. Everybody who reaches our campus by vehicle at least, passes through Jua Kali. It is a small and very dirty town. True to its name, most of its inhabitance are jua kali workers who walk, peddle or matatu (packed mini-van) the 15+ miles to Nanyuki everyday. They return home tired and the prospects of eating, tending house and sleeping rank higher than walking the half-mile to the town’s trash receptacle. Unfortunately after several years, neglected trash blows around and accumulates.

It is simply impossible to drive over the small town’s four mountainous speed bumps and not notice the trash that has collected. It is caught in the fences, the water culverts the cacti that separates the homesteads from the road… it is everywhere.

We had heard that an English woman who lives in Jua Kali had organized a town clean up. Though it was scheduled extremely early in the term, very soon after the girls had returned, we thought it was a great opportunity.

All of our students come from poverty. One of our primary aims at Daraja Academy is to show them and allow them to feel that they are powerful, and not sentenced to only be recipients of goodwill. There is an incredible moving sensation that comes with doing something good for others. In our minds the rewards far out distanced the benefits that the clean up would lend the local environment.

I don’t care where you are in the world, Nagasaki, Nantucket or Nanyuki; most teenagers do not want to spend a Sunday afternoon collecting trash. But with some cajoling, the girls of Daraja went along with the plan to join the crowd cleaning up our neighboring town.

Upon arrival, we realized there was a crowd… of bystanders, watching as the clean-up coordinator tried to get them inspired to pitch in. The concept of spending their off time, or for some just ‘time’ period picking up garbage, was ridiculous. Their apathy was taking a clear toll on our English neighbor and she was clearly relieved when we arrived.

As usual our girls were great. With the best attitudes, in groups of two, each holding a side of a garbage bag they swept across the town. Some had rakes, other thick gloves (all generously donated by Rich Harley) but all attacked the clean-up in a way that would make the most OCD’ed American homemaker jealous. Wiping pride aside, these girls were incredible.

Leila and Relina

Big 30 lbs. bags began to fill and pile up. But surprisingly, very few of Jua Kali’s adults joined the cause. Many children and a few teenagers helped, which was refreshing and left me with some hope, however, I’d have to say that I was saddened by what I saw. Unsure if they were driven by shame or a true mean spirit, I heard more than a few snickers and a less refined “Mr. Doherty” probably would have taken issue with these people – but, I never had to…

As the girls continued the clean-up in the hot sun and as the pile of trash became a hill many of the bystanders changed their song. Though only a few eventually joined us, it was clear that a point was made and it was made through the unbreakable attitude of our students. In fact, one woman was over heard saying to a group of men, “sad isn’t it, our house is burning down and we are watching our neighbors put it out.”

After two hours Jua Kali looked amazing and word had spread all the way to the local health worker. He came down to inspect our work and ended up buying sodas for all of the Daraja students. In all, 300 lbs of garbage was collected and disposed of and though tired the ride home to campus was a happy one. But, deep down inside of me, if I am going to be totally honest, I was worried that the experiment might have had the opposite effect on the girls. Rather than be excited and energized by the clean-up and its effect on the environment and our neighboring town, I was afraid that the girls might feel bitter about the whole thing. Nobody likes being laughed at, especially when you are giving away free time doing hard work.

That worry did not have long to take root. The Jua Kali clean-up was Sunday afternoon, at 3:30pm Monday afternoon, barely 15 minutes after school ended I found out the effect that was made on our students. Out of my office window, out of the corner of my eye I caught a blur of turquoise. Then I heard giggling out outside the back window. In all honesty, I was covered in goose bumps when I went out to investigate what was going on: in groups of two they swept across the Daraja campus. A few had rakes and others had thick gloves and they were cleaning up. They still giggled, but this time they hadn’t been cajoled. They just did it. Most amazingly, they ALL did it.

And I sincerely hope they do so again.

So yes, I found an amazing opportunity for learning and it did not happen in a classroom, laboratory or library and I am not a student… at least I am not one of the girls of Daraja.

Please remember that the dream of Daraja Academy includes you. Spread the word, plan to visit, assist if you can, but please, what ever you do, do not forget these young ladies.

P.S. Students from Noel, Missouri: Thank you for commenting on the site, our students all say JAMBO (Hi) and are very excited that you are interested in their school. I am in the process of answering your questions, however, since the internet isn’t too reliable and is VERY slow I’d like to ask a favor. WOuld it be ok if I replied to all of the questions and put them into one Email? If so, who should I send it to. Once again, ASANTE SANA (thank you very much)!!!

Thank you

Tags: clean-up, daraja academy, Jua Kali, Noel Missouri
Filed under Misc : Comments (3) : May 9th, 2009

Daraja’s own global summit

Tuesday evenings, after the dining hall empties, is a wonderful time on Daraja’s campus. The sun drops below the gently rolling hills just west of school and the air actually glows a warm amber. Baboons can be heard in the dense trees by the river settling into their roosts for the night while neighboring Maasai children fan out across the rolling grassland surrounding their boma to collect the last straggling goats and sheep.

It is during this Tuesday twilight hour that the volunteers from Denmark visiting Daraja tutor the Kenyan students. I personally cannot say enough good things about this group of Scandinavian twenty-something’s. They are passionate, intelligent and very eager to make a difference in the world. They are very bright and simply put, our students love the tutoring sessions.

The Daraja students get to choose the class they feel they need the most help in while the Danish volunteers decide the subject they will tutor based on their academic strengths. Interestingly, the sessions balance out very well. A group of five Daraja students and two Danes are working on biology in the science lab, while seven girls and three Danish volunteers are breaking down the structure of a “3 paragraph essay” in the library.

Before I sat down to type this, I walked outside the classroom block watching unseen from the dark into the light classrooms as something perfect happened. It is true, Daraja Academy has only been running for three weeks, but what is happening is truly spectacular. Young people from all over Kenya are sitting, reading, talking and laughing with young people from Europe. They are together, they are sharing, and all of them, in one way or another – are learning.

Perhaps, in a little less than a month, when the Danish volunteers move on to their sites in South Africa and Uganda, contact between these two groups of young people will be lost, but my guess is the memories they have created will not be.

Filed under From the Founder, Misc, News, Students : Comments (0) : Mar 18th, 2009

The Daraja Academy Photo Album

Make sure to check the new photos recently added to the Flickr album! They are amazing…

Have a great weekend!

Filed under Misc, News, Photos : Comments (2) : Mar 5th, 2009

Holiday Giving

Please check out our PDF of how to sponsor a Daraja student during our Holiday Gift-Giving Drive!

Filed under Donations, Misc : Comments (0) : Dec 3rd, 2008