On Saturday, July 20th, Daraja girls competed in a Talent Show to take a quick break from their end of term exam studying. Twenty-four acts took the stage and performed skits, sang songs, recited poems, or entertained with dance.

Impressed by the girls’ stellar confidence, volunteers, Transition Program students, and even some administrators watched the girls take the stage. Some acts were comedic, and some just for fun, but many acts boasted the passion that Daraja students have for their education and their cultures.

The “Turkana Dancers” won for the category of best group. Wrapped in blue, they sung and danced in unison, representing the Turkana ethnic group from Northern Kenya. Rosalia performed a poem about women’s empowerment. Some lines from the poem are:

“A girl has eyes, to see beyond the village.

A girl has ability, to carry more than firewood.

A girl has energy, to fetch more than water.

Educate a girl, educate the whole family.

Mathematics is not too poisonous to us.

English is not too foreign to us.

Arts are not too strange to us.

Sciences are not too scary to us.

Educate a girl, educate the whole family.”

“The poem says that women are not too weak to be educated, we are strong,” explained Rosalia.

Other winners included Alice A. and Elizabeth for the Crowd Pleaser category, a dance act by Purity for Best Solo, Bilha and Alice’s poem for Most Creative, and Salome’s dance and comedy act for Most Confident.