Students “pay” for their time at Daraja Academy through performing 30 hours of community service each year, 10 hours per term break. Students are encouraged to help their communities by teaching them information they acquired during their time at Daraja or in areas similar to those they intend to work in as a career.
The first type of community service mentioned is conducted at their local primary and secondary schools. The Daraja girls then tutor younger girls and boys who are struggling in school. Our girls have also held workshops in community centers, churches and mosques educating others on a number of diverse topics ranging from HIV prevention to sustainable farming techniques. The majority of these workshops pass on information that volunteers from the US and beyond have brought to Daraja Academy and shared with our students. A very exciting part of this “service learning chain” is its immense potential to affect change. One volunteer visits Daraja Academy and teaches 104 students, who take the information home to many parts of Kenya and teach it several times to larger groups, etc. To date, the largest group taught by a Daraja girl had 140 participants at her second seminar in the small city of Kitale in Western Kenya.
