Yearly Archives: 2015

Emily wants to be a Surgeon

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Emily loves her 8th grade science class at Daylight. She smiles wide “I like to learn about the chambers and the blood types and the veins.” Her fascination in the human body has led her to want to be a surgeon. Emliy

She is eager to graduate college so she can work at a hospital and send money home to her family.  “My mother lives in the desert where life is very hard. She is happy I went to school because I am her only child going to school.”  Emily has a lot of pressure on her to succeed, but she feels up to the challenge. “I want to be a surgeon in town and send money home to my mom and brothers and sisters. But if there are people who have no money for surgeries. I will help anyways.”

 

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Taking Pictures with Kids at Daylight

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Our team arrived at Daylight after four days of traveling. We traveled from Minneapolis to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi all the way to Kapenguria, Kenya.

When we pulled up to the little sign that read Daylight School we could feel the joy and the energy of the kids.

We first met the kids that board in the dormitories at Daylight because it was past three in the afternoon.We pulled up to Michael’s house, which is on the property, and the children greeted us and they sang songs. They were so happy that we were there. I don’t think they even really knew why there was a bunch of Mzungus (white people) there. Either way they were full of joy.Copy of DSC00262

One little boy walked up to us with a big grin on his face. We already knew his friends had whispered in his ear to do something, maybe he was going to greet us in Pokot.

Maybe he was going to give us a present? We weren’t really sure. He came up and shakes our hands and he goes down the line of all these white people and shake each hand.Then one kid after another started doing it and there must’ve been around 70 kids slowly shaking our hands greeting us welcoming us to Kenya welcoming us to the school, thanking us for coming. It was a very very nice way to develop a relationship with the kids.

The next day, which was Tuesday morning, all the kids arrived at school there is around 320 children they were so excited! They formed circles of maybe 20 to 30 kids, around each person. They wanted to touch eyes, ask us questions just get to know us, they were very welcoming. They wanted to know what you think about us, they wanted to touch our clothes, and learn our culture.

It was a really nice bonding experience. But because of all this excitement I thought, hey I’ll take out my phone and take some pictures because I didn’t bring a camera-which wasn’t really clever of me. I recommend bringing a camera if you ever visit Kenya there’s a lot to see. They were excited for this new toy.Kids were posing they would smile, laugh, take photos of each other, videos, they were actually really good photographers.

They would capture people running, they had so much fun with this camera.IMG_6634
Here in the depths of the first day at Daylight school is one of the thousands of photos of the kids took on my phone and that is what it’s like on the first day at Daylight.

Maddy Lemay
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Meet Charles: A Student of History

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Charles is an 8th grader at Daylight with a keen eye for history.  He is a star student in Social Studies class and especially likes when his teacher highlights leaders from history.

“My favorite historical leader is the 1st President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere.” He said before rattling off a list of facts on Nyerere.

Julius Neyerere with President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter, 1977

Julius Neyerere with President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter, 1977

“He was born in 1921. When the Germans came to Tanzania they forced Nyerere’s village to abandon their culture, but he promoted his village’s culture against the threat of colonialism.  He was a great leader and eventually helped lead the Tanzanian people get independence and their freedom. He became President and allowed his country to have many political parties, so Africans can choose the president they like instead of having corruption.” charles

You might think that Charles wants to be a politician. But when asked he replies with a big smile. “I want to be a pilot. Because you can get from one place of work to another instead of walking long distances.”

Thank you for supporting Charles’ education. He is going to be a great pilot and a very informed and politically engaged citizen!

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Dolls for Daylight

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The prospect of another long winter and the desire to experience the camaraderie of working on a sewing project together prompted me to start a Sewing For Good class with Minneapolis Community Education.
I thought that we would create a dozen or so dolls to give to children in need.  I underestimated the generosity and kindness of the class participants.  Over the past two winters, the women sewed hundreds of beautiful dolls.  As you can see from the photo, creativity and love were poured into the making of each doll.

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In July I had the opportunity to take some of the dolls to the students at Daylight School. Distributing the dolls to those giggling, beautiful children was a highlight of my life. The video says it all.

Before traveling to Daylight, I struggled with whether the money my family would spend on travel would be better spent as a direct donation to the school. Upon my return, I have thought about this question. I cannot know what impact I had on the students and staff, but I do know that every visitor, regardless of the skills or items s/he brings, bears witness to these children and their teachers that they are valued and loved and they are not alone. The children of Daylight are now packed into every corner of my heart. I will continue to support them. I hope you will, too.
Tristen Lindemann
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