Singing, dancing, plastering, public speaking – it’s been another busy week for the Daraja girls! Here’s what they’ve been up to this week:

Sports – The Daraja football team and table tennis players participated in a regional tournament over the weekend. Four freshmen table tennis players will be moving on to the district competition: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Mesret, Esther C., Ann N. and Mary S. The football team lost their first game 2-0 and tied their second game 0-0. Lillian from Form 3 said the team played stronger than they had in the first round of competition, but it wasn’t enough to get a goal in. The girls will continue their practices to get ready for next season.

Form 1 Field Trip – The freshmen girls, along with their new friends from Marin Academy, visited a local nature conservancy and baboon sanctuary on Tuesday. Several of the girls borrowed school cameras to take snaps of the animals, including the one below. You can see more of Carol’s photos on Daraja’s Facebook page.

 

Music and Poetry Festival – Teddy, Emily, Mary N. and Rosalia traveled to Eldoret with Teacher Victoria to represent Daraja at the provincial competition. Daraja is in Rift Valley Province, with a population of 8.7 million people, about the same as New Jersey. So far, we know that Teddy came fourth in English public speaking, Rosalia came sixth in Swahili poetry recital and Emily came sixth in Swahili public speaking. We are so proud of how far they’ve come, showing other schools across the province that Daraja is moving up in competition! Mary N. is competing in Swahili public speaking today.

Marin Academy – After a packed schedule of plastering the garden shed, getting the garden ready for a greenhouse, singing, dancing, and leading computer and women’s empowerment classes, the 14 students and 4 group leaders from Marin Academy loaded up three safari vans and said goodbye this morning. The Daraja girls were sad to see them go but look forward to next year, when the leaders plan to bring another group of American high schoolers to Daraja.

Leila - with MA student, Paige, and Form 3 girls - showing off some new moves