Back in March I wrote a post about my friend Jason Doherty’s work opening a school for girls in Kenya called The Daraja Academy. The school and the project are currently gaining some momentum,  so I have called on the readers and members of the Intrepid Classroom to support the project. I will let you read the details of that post and watch the most recent videos for yourself here.

I want to take this time to write a short post asking you, a community of international teachers, to  answer the call as well and think about sponsoring and facilitating Daraja Clubs at your schools. I am quite certain that I am too close to this project to be objective about it. For many of you, this is probably just another aid project on a list of many. Many of you are probably already working, in some capacity, with NGOs and other aid groups.

So what makes Daraja unique and how will the experience of working with this project be beneficial not only for the girls who will benefit from a world class education where there was none, but for your students as well?

The main benefit is the simplicity of this project. It is run from a home, by a manageable board, and a few key people. Students who get involved will quickly gain a sense of ownership and connectivity with not only the organization, but hopefully with the students who will be attending the Academy. Establishing a Daraja Club does not only mean raising money, but building a relationship with the founder, the students, and hopefully other students around the world who are intimately involved with Daraja. The grassroots nature of this project will teach students the power of concentrated effort to truly make a change. This is not a large organization who will send pictures of sponsored children, but rather a school that is being built by the efforts of people like your students.

My hope is to have at lest five separate schools worldwide with their own Daraja Club. With the help of you, their teacher, or me at Intrepid Classroom, I hope that these clubs will learn how to canvas their peers for support, create informative and creative multi-media presentations and commercials, raise funds of course, and eventually establish relationships with the students not only from other clubs around the world, but more importantly those girls attending the school itself. For older students, this could perhaps open doors to internship possibilties.

In the edublogospehre, we are always discussing the importance of student learning networks; I see these clubs as a great focal point where students can work independently, but also within the boundaries of a shared goal.

My request is simple please either consider sponsoring a Daraja club with your students or send them to IntrepidClasroom and see if they won’t start one on their own. At the very least please read Jason’s blog to keep up with what is happening on the ground in Kenya.