It is with heavy hearts that we ask you to hold our 7th grade student Faith, as well as, all the Daylight staff, students, and family in your thoughts and prayers.

Faith is now going with her mother and Daylight Matron Angelina Kimpur to an eye specialist hospital in Sabatia which is three hours away.

Faith was playing with her friends and a teacher on the playground this week and there was an accident where a stick poked her in the eye. Her eye was injured and she was rushed to the nearby hospital.  Faith is a soloist in the Daylight choir and a star student in academics.

Daylight Upper Grades

Sabatia Eye Hospital is an excellent care facility and will give Faith the best possible care.
Sabatia Eye Hospital

We want to thank you for your generous donations which help fund Daylight’s emergency medical fund for our students and staff. We ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for Faith and her family as she undergoes treatment on her eye.

You can listen to Faith and the Daylight choir singing in this video below:

At 21 years old, Nicholas is starting his sophomore year of high school.

Nicholas got a late start on school because he is from a very remote village and was at home helping his family on the farm. But, in 2010, Nicholas lost his vision due to an eye infection. “I lost my sight, and I was given medicine that helped me feel better and then I could see again.” This gave him a passion for becoming a surgeon. Nicholas left the farm and came to Daylight School. Nicholas worked hard to catch up in his studies and enrolled in Ortum Boy’s High School in West Pokot near Daylight.

Nicholas is the oldest son of Daylight’s longtime Outreach Coordinator Peter Losengoria. “I am so happy for my son, because I did not get to go to high school. But now I work at Daylight school.” He smiled, looking proudly at his son. “I want him to be a great surgeon.”

Nicholas and his father Peter 

Nicholas is one of seven kids in his family, including a new baby. It is a struggle for their family to pay for Nicholas’ high school fees. And because Nicholas is the first person in his family to go to high school, they are extraordinarily proud of him.

Nicholas, Mama Keyaa, and the new baby

Daylight provides scholarships for Nicholas and all the graduating 8th graders. Then we work together with the high schools to secure funding throughout their education.

But this year Nicholas needed extra support after some of the students in his high school were caught cheating on their exams. After the principal put a stop to it, some students got unruly and destroyed school property. This resulted in all of the students being sent home mid-term. When classes resumed, Nicholas and his classmates were forced to pay extra fees to rejoin school.

But Daylight stepped in and provided the funds to help Nicholas re-enter school.

We did this because we are committed to helping Nicholas and all our students reach their goals.

In response to this support, Nicholas wanted to write a thank you letter to Daylight partners who donate financially to make his education possible.

Your contributions fund Nicholas and so many other students’ educations. And, as it is the start of a new term, we will be making another round of school fee payments this September.

Please consider making a special donation this month to help us fund these students’ high school education.

Reflection from Rev. Javen Swanson who serves as Associate Pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

One of the things I was told about beforehand but couldn’t fully comprehend until I had spent some time in Kenya was the concept of “African time.” Our trip leaders encouraged us before we left to keep an open mind and to go with the flow; we were taught that Kenyans have a more relaxed relationship with time.

Pastor Javon Swanson with Daylight Students

Once we arrived in Kenya we discovered just exactly what that meant: Those of us from America who are so used to organizing our lives around our calendars and keeping a close eye on our watches spent a lot of time confused and wondering what was going on. No class period ever began “on time.”

The 30-minute mid-morning break for tea always lingered well beyond the time allotted for it. Teachers ended lessons when the lessons were done. And nobody at Daylight School thought twice about canceling an entire afternoon of classes to make time for different kinds of activities that gave the American visitors an opportunity to really get to know the Kenyan students.

Mid-morning porridge and tea break

At the end of the day, that’s really what “African time” is about: It’s about relationships. Some have said Africans have more of an “emotional time consciousness” that is different from our Western “mechanical time consciousness.” There’s more of an emphasis on the personal interactions happening in the present than on strict adherence to a schedule.

Most of the time, those 30-minute mid-morning tea breaks went longer than planned because Americans and Kenyans were sitting together having good conversations, and in that moment, those good conversations mattered more than the class schedule.

School lessons were postponed to create opportunities for Americans and Kenyans to spend time together, because in that culture, relationships take priority.

The sad takeaway for me was that we Americans often cut short those most important moments because we have busy schedules to keep. Too often we miss the amazing things happening right before our eyes because we’re determined to play out the agenda we had planned ahead of time. We’re so certain we know how things are supposed to go that we don’t even notice when something awesome and unexpected is happening right in front of us now. – Pastor Javon Swanson

Earlier this month I had the honor of traveling on a service learning trip to Daylight Center and School in Kenya with 17 other members of my congregation and surrounding community. The trip changed my life and will forever influence how I am a pastor.

Pastor Lawrence Richardson with Joshua Kimpur

Each American was paired with a Kenyan educator or leader, and it was the expectation that we assist them with their classes, service projects, or school duties for the week. In addition to there being 18 of us, I was the only African American. From the onset, Kenyan children and adults were caught off guard by the realization that there are Black people in different places around the world.

Pastor Lawrence with Daylight Students at Recess

At Daylight, there is Religious Education, Ethics and History lessons are woven throughout their English, Swahili, Math, Physical Education, Political Science and Social Studies classes. Spiritual practices and reverence for God contribute to their sense of motivation and is spoken about openly, and the expectation that it takes a literal village to raise a child is a cooperative way of living that has dramatically altered their community and way of life. Students and teachers alike seem grounded in a mutual understanding of and commitment to a shared identity.

The school is time and again fulfilling its mission, which is to “educate a new generation of leaders to serve and transform their communities and inspire sustainable livelihood.”

The vision for Daylight was palpable all around the surrounding neighborhood and greeted us each day as we arrived. The energy could be felt through the morning assembly and flag ceremony, the countless hours of study and programs, the abundance of laughter and smiles, meal times, physical fitness exercises, and the commitment modeled by staff and teachers.

Pastor Lawrence Speaking at the Weekly Monday Morning School Assembly 

Daylight Center and School is located on a beautiful plot of land in the nomadic countryside of Kenya. The surrounding desert is home to many tribes who would otherwise have no access to education and couldn’t afford to travel to more developed parts of the country, so the existence of Daylight is integral to the future sustainability of surrounding tribes. Everyone in the community knows what Daylight is and what happens there, and is committed to the mission of the school because of what it means for their future.

This observation leads me to wonder how we might prioritize each person from our community and neighborhood as partners belonging to a “tribe”, designing education and programming to perpetuate and strengthen our understanding of and commitment to a shared identity.

My time serving and learning in Kenya was rich and deeply transformative. The thousands of pictures, dozens of journal entries, and hours of video can’t even begin to capture how this experience has been for my life and ministry. I am deeply grateful.

Please click here to read the full text of this brilliant article on Center For Progressive Renewal. Pastor Lawrence’s explores his experience being black American in Kenya and the lessons he took home for his church leadership style.

Daylight has a new swing set, volleyball and handball court! And as you can see, they are drawing big crowds of excited students.

Before school, during morning snack, recess and after school the swings are full of smiling students. On the first day, students lined up at the swing set and counted “1, 2, 3!” making sure each new student got 3 swings to “try it out.”  By the end of the week, students were counting out 20 swings and really getting some nice air!The new play equipment was constructed in July by a joint effort from our Minneapolis team, Kenyan builders, and the staff at Daylight.  The pipes were bought by John, Peter, Mike, and Kurt from a local hardware store in Kapenguria, Kenya. 
Then back to Daylight, where the pipes were assembled with the help of Daylight US Board Member Travis Collins and a Kenyan Volunteer Boni.

Daylight Pastor John and Kurt worked together to dig the posts and hand mix the cement.

Of course the builders had to “test” the swings.

Then the volleyball court was finished and the net was hung.
And soon the boys had two very tall and very talented 8th grade girls to contend with at the nets!
Finally, the handball court was completed. Kurt watched as the keeper got distracted by the camera and missed the incoming goal.
Grace and her teacher Jonathan were super excited about all the new equipment! Grace said, “I love volleyball with my teachers and my girl friends. It’s especially fun with all the new equipment!”Thank you to our Minneapolis team, our Kenyan builders and volunteers, and to you for making Daylight school possible!