Hi! I’m Giulia! This is a summary of my first week at Daraja from a volunteer’s perspective.

My husband Mark and I came to Kenya for one reason only. To meet our 77 girls! Our friends Jenni and Jason had a big dream…to start a secondary school in Kenya for girls who otherwise wouldn’t have the funds to attend. We were fortunate to learn about their project at their first-ever fundraiser three and a half years ago. We loved their goal and mission so soon thereafter they asked us to join the Board of Directors. We couldn’t have been happier. It was a long, tough road. At the beginning we only had funds to get us to the end of the month. We had no savings and it was a scary time. Now, we have a beautiful, functioning campus full of smiling girls.

I came here with Mark and my brother Pietro and his best-friend Sam. While we are at the end of our around-the-world trip, they are just at the beginning. They quit their jobs in NYC in February to come to Kenya and travel throughout South-East Asia. They went to culinary school so they are helping out Ruth in the kitchen. From preparing meals, to assessing the nutrition, to working on improving the food budget, we couldn’t of asked for better assistance!

What I love most about Daraja are the hugs. Anytime a girl sees you, she comes over, smiles, and gives you the biggest, warmest hug. On any given day I must get on average about 50 hugs. It is totally AWESOME. I spent my first week at Daraja attending classes with the girls. Oh boy, are they tough. Some of the math problems are super hard! But the girls are so smart and once you explain it to them once, they totally get it. I also was fortunate enough to lead a Business class with the girls and share my career in Marketing and my studies at Georgetown University with them. They were totally fascinated and asked some great questions.

We have the most amazing Volunteer Coordinator. His name is Andy. He’s a super nice guy and great at his job. The girls and volunteers all love him. One day he planned a wonderful Safari trip for all the volunteers to see the local baboons as well as a short visit to a Masai village nearby campus. We took 100’s of pictures and danced with the women in the village and bought some of their beautiful hand-made jewelry. 10% of the proceeds go to women education, how perfect is that?!

This place is magical. I’m so happy to be finally here.