Team Dayā completed the groundbreaking for its sixth school the week of March 18th in Hardahani, Nepal. We could not have done this without our 2024-Nepal team (new members Michel deRijk, Purwa Jain, Shyam Karki, Ruth Rafalovich, Lauren Rose, Sean Tan, Alex Yang along with returning members Mike Benedek, Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen and Founder Jay Sears), corporate support from SecurityPal and the support of our 1,000+ donors around the world.

Please consider supporting Team Dayā and its 2024-Nepal team members so we can continue Building Change.

A Return to Dhayapur

Team Dayā had the privilege to return to Dhayapur, where the group funded its first school in 2019. Welcomed by the community, we were able to see a school that now serves over 200 students and has expanded to offer learning through eighth grade (our 2019 school building allowed the community to petition the government to expand from fifth grade to eighth grade). It was a moment to bear witness that Building Change has real and lasting impact in these communities.

In Hardahani, A School for New Learners

A few hours west from Dhayapur, in the Kailali District of the Western Terai, Team Dayā spent the week working on a new school in Hardahani. The community is primarily Tharu, an ethnic group indigenous to the Terai in southern Nepal and northern India. 

Subsistence agriculture is the primary means of work where families will grow crops including rice, wheat, corn, lentils and other vegetables. Oftentimes men will leave the communities for months at a time to work cash jobs in India.

The Team Dayā school project will benefit ECD (early child development), first and second graders currently using a simple single room building. With 82 current students (34 girls and 48 boys), teachers need to use additional buildings in the community to accommodate the students. There is one teacher for ECD, one principal and one teacher from the ward (both teach in grades 1 & 2) and one school office assistant. There are 45 ECD students (15 girls and 30 boys), 16 first graders (6 girls and 10 boys) and 21 second graders (13 girls and 8 boys).

Over time, it is expected the community will petition for additional school buildings to accommodate additional primary grades. Currently these students must walk to neighboring communities for their schooling. Third graders need to walk about two kilometers into another municipality and students beyond third grade must cross a river to reach their school location.

Your donations will allow a project leader and skilled laborers from our NGO partner buildOn to assist community members to complete the school building over the next two – three months. We will continue to share stories of our time in Hardahani and updates on school construction over the coming weeks.

Please consider a donation so Team Dayā can continue its work.

Three Ways You Can Help

1. Make a Donation Online
2. Example investment opportunities:
   • $100 Five shovels for excavating the school’s solid foundation
   • $250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
   • $500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
   • $1,000 Paint for a school
   • $40,000 Fund an entire school
3. Spread the Word
   • Share our mission with your friends, your company and your industry
   • Invite us to speak about our mission to your network
   • Follow us on our website (subscribe), LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
4. Join the Team & Travel on a School Build
   • If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.

Team Dayā 2024 Plans

In 2024, we plan to build schools in Nepal (March), Senegal (June 2024) and Guatemala (December 2024). These ground breakings will be our second school in each of these countries. 

The exact start dates are:

• Sunday, March 17, 2024 – Nepal (arrive Kathmandu) [groundbreaking completed]
• Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [full, no more capacity]
• Sunday, December 1, 2024 – Guatemala (arrive Guatemala City) [available]
• A 2025 schedule will be published by this summer.

If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. 

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā