“The Throne” Daylight Celebration of Traditional Nomadic Culture

At Daylight, we take great pride in celebrating our children’s cultural heritage. We have special school assemblies throughout the year where we celebrate the traditional nomadic culture of our students.

We bring in elders in their traditional dress to teach our children dances and songs.

36 throne 4Daylight Director Michael Kimpur at Daylight with Pokot Elders doing a tradtional dance and song at a school assembly

36 Thorne 6Daylight students doing a traditional Nomadic dance

It is common to hear news stories on Kenyan Television where traditional nomadic culture is talked about negatively. When our students hear these messages about their culture and their family members who live in nomadic communities, it can be hurtful and make them feel negatively about their cultural background.

At Daylight we teach our children to value and celebrate their culture. Many of our Daylight students come from villages and small towns where these traditions are a daily way of life.  Many of our students from rural areas are the first in their family to go to school.  Their families are counting on them to be to be leaders in their communities.  Their families also want them to appreciate and celebrate the communities they came from.

We take time to celebrate the unique and beautiful parts of nomadic life. “The Throne” is one of the most unique parts of East African nomadic culture. It is a small chair that people sit on when they are herding cattle, like Sampson is here at Daylight’s village school in Alale.

36 throne 2One of the most amazing things about this chair is that it is also a pillow with a special feature.36 Throne 1“It is so important to sleep on a throne because it picks up the vibrations in the ground while you sleep. In case someone approaches you. If there is an enemy raider, a hyena, or even a lion, you will feel it as you sleep,” Sampson explains.

36 thorn 3“It is also very easy to carry with you,” Elijah adds.

Thank you for supporting Daylight School, where we proudly celebrate culture and families.

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Daylight’s (rescheduled) Ten-Year Anniversary Party May 13th

Join us for Daylight’s (rescheduled) Ten-Year Anniversary Party on Sunday May 13th, 2 – 4 pm!
Daylight 10 year social media (5)
We are planning a joyous celebration of everything the last ten years have brought. Our Kenyan director, Michael Kimpur, will be in Minnesota to celebrate with us and share inspiring stories of the amazing young people who have studied at Daylight. The event will be an open house with light brunch refreshments and a short program at 2:30 p.m.
The details are below:
Sunday May 13th, from 2 – 4 pm
Solomon’s Porch Church
We can hardly believe that Daylight has been around for ten years, but we have come a long ways. We began Daylight as a way to support thirty children whose parents had died. During our first month, January 2007, we had thirty kindergartners meeting in a church Sunday-School classroom. Our first month’s budget was $250, which all came directly from our U.S. Director, Nathan Roberts, to his college roommate, Michael Kimpur.
Since then it has been an amazing journey with so many adventures. With your help, and the help of so many Kenyans and Americans working side-by-side, we have graduated two classes into high school! And are now educating 400 students on two campuses!

Please join us at our anniversary party to help celebrate this incredible school and the people who make it special.

Learn how you can support daylight at daylightcenter.org
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