Sewing is an Important Part of Daylight School

Sewing is an important part of life at Daylight. Knowing how to sew is a valuable life skill in Kenya, allowing our students to get a job, mend their own clothing, and creatively express themselves!

Dama, our professional seamstress, expertly sews new school uniforms for the students. She also makes endless repairs, mending the pants, shirts, dresses and jumpers the students wear. There are three treadle sewing machines in the sewing room, and they get plenty of use. Sometimes the machines are moved outside in the sunshine where there is more light, making it easier to see.


Seamstress Dama teaching a sewing lesson

Recently some improvements were made to the sewing room, making the work easier for the seamstresses. We added wiring and an outlet, making it possible to use an electric sewing machine that can make zig-zag stitches and make durable button holes more easily. We also installed wiring for two tracks of solar-powered lights, making the sewing room usable on cloudy or rainy days.


Daylight middle school students learning to sew

Dama and her student seamstresses live out the Daylight principles of continuous learning and using one’s skills to better the lives of others.

Alongside the sewing in Kenya, a sewing group in Minnesota created over 200 handmade dolls to find new homes in the students’ arms.


Daylight students showing off their new dolls

A dedicated group of women in the Minneapolis Community Education Sewing for Children in Need class led by Tristen Lindemann poured their hearts and creativity into meeting their goal of sewing 200 dolls for Daylight. The cheerful smiles of these dolls helped warm up a long Minnesota winter, and we hope the love with which they were created will be felt by the Daylight children.

Thank you to all the amazing people who helped build and design our sewing room. And the people who donate their time and resources to continue this important program. And thank you to all our partners who make all of the education at Daylight possible!

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Our Farm and Animals Help Teach Life Skills to Our Students

Daylight is a school and a working farm!animals 4

This is our brilliant and very funny 8th grader Eunice with a Daylight cow. Eunice’s parents are farmers, and she wants to be a nurse when she grows up. We include students like Eunice in the farm work because we believe that farming teaches children important life skills.

Farming is a common profession in rural Kenya. People with other professions often keep a few cows, goats, and chickens at their homes for food and supplemental income. We want our students to have the knowledge and experience to farm if they choose. We also want them to learn life skills such as responsibility, animal care, and hard work, and learn the value of food and the importance of caring for the earth.

Daylight’s farm also serves an important role in the sustainability of our school. About a third of the school’s food supplies come from Daylight’s farming acres and animals. Angelina Kimpur is the head of this farming project. She works with a team of herdsmen, teachers, and students who help milk and harvest.

We wanted to give you a short tour of our farm and the animals at Daylight’s farm:

Angelina Kimpur holding one of our 40 chickens, which provide eggs every day and meat on special occasions.

animals 5The 40 chickens and 4 rabbits live side-by-side in their houses.animals 8Our six geese wander around the school picking up scraps that fall off of plates after lunch.
animals 3
Daylight grows three tons of corn each year in rented farm land surrounding our school’s property. This land is also used for grazing our 13 cows (our herd has grown from five cows when we started the farm).animals 1
But sometimes the grass gets long and we let them graze in the volleyball court. animals 7Our seven Daylight watch dogs, like Sam here, keep an eye on the cows. Sam also loves to play with our students during recess.animals 6We are so grateful for the staff who diligently care for our animals and work hard to pass these skills onto our students.animals 2We are also grateful for our supporters. Your gifts help make this farm and our amazing school possible!

An update on Faith:

Faith and her family are staying at a hotel near the hospital. She is continuing to get treatment for her eye. Please keep her, her family, and all of Daylight in your thoughts and prayers as she works with doctors in the coming weeks.

 

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