In its history, Daraja has been blessed with volunteers from around the globe. Some come for a week, some decide to stay for months, and everyone leaves having had a special and unique experience. Volunteers are usually on campus until late Fall, when students leave during the school’s quiet season. (Forms 1-3 leave for break in early November, and the Form 4s are busy taking the KCSEs.) This weekend, Daraja welcomed back its first volunteers in several months. One of them, Varney, an 18-year-old from Pennsylvania, has returned to Daraja for a second time! “I couldn’t stay away,” she said, laughing. Here’s her story:
Varney graduated from a boarding high school in 2012 and with a college acceptance in hand, she decided to take a gap year, knowing that there might not be many opportunities later in life to do whatever she wants – travel. She embraced the opportunity, and started researching various opportunities before beginning college. Prior to her first trip to Daraja, “I was on Google and a blog came up of someone who’d been
So, Varney applied to volunteer, and arrived on campus in September prepared to teach yoga and meditation to Daraja students. She ended up doing much more and built lasting relationships with many of the students.
Varney worked hard at cultivating relationships with the students. “At first I was really overwhelmed by them. It was really hard to get to know their names and talking to them could be hard because a lot of them are shy. But, Having a one-on-one conversation with someone was the best way to get into it. Also, a couple girls were really into yoga – like Jemima – so that was a good way to connect with them, especially because yoga was so silly and hilarious to them that it was fun to just laugh together.” Conversations were crucial to building relationships with students, but it wasn’t just a one-way thing; rather, explained Varney, she would ask them about their lives at home, thereby “creating a trust – they’re telling me things and I’m telling them things.”
Varney left Daraja six weeks later and travelled to Greece, Costa Rica, and Panama. She had originally intended on spending the entire spring in Argentina but now she’s back here at Daraja. “I figured if I had all this time to be anywhere I want in the world then why not be at Daraja? Because I love it so much here.” She’s so thrilled to be back and says that it’s easier this time around because she already knows all the girls. “I chose to come to Daraja because I had 104 new sisters in Kenya. I also didn’t know when I would have the time again in my life to pack a bag and travel wherever I wanted for two months,” she explained.”Daraja is like a second home to me and I feel very comfortable on campus,” she said. “It’s cool to see how the girls have grown in five months – the Form 1s don’t feel like Forms 1s anymore – they’re all grown up. It’s very exciting that we’re getting a new class – I’m excited to see how each of the classes welcome each of the girls.” (This coming Friday Daraja welcomes its newest freshman class, so stay tuned for updates!) Another thing Varney did during the five months she was away from campus was raise money to sponsor a Form 2. “While I was home I was raising money to sponsor a Form 2. I am now her official sponsor and I think that was a big part of me wanting to come back,” she explained. “What affected me the most was the girls’ enthusiasm, thirst for knowledge, and love for life, despite the various hardships they all have faced.”
Become part of the Daraja volunteer family – email julie@daraja.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities on campus.
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