In 2022, Team Dayā traveled to the community of Nguiddine Keur Sara in the Fatick region of Senegal to help build the community’s first proper school building. The community has done so well with the first building – the number of students has nearly doubled – we are returning in two weeks to build a second school building in Nguiddine Keur Sara.
Please consider supporting Team Dayā and its team members traveling to Senegal. Our work is not possible without the support of our over 1,000 supporters.
Returning to Nguiddine Keur Sara
“If we had the word that expressed more than thank you, we would use that,” said Chief Khokhan Nolong at a closing ceremony with Team Dayā and Nguiddine Keur Sara community members in 2022. “We pray for you, the way you come in peace here. May you also go in peace in your country.”
Prior to our 2022 project, the community only had two temporary classrooms made from millet stalks, sticks, leaves and cardboard. Our 2022 project delivered two permanent classrooms and a boys and a girls latrine.
You can read Team Dayā member Michael “The Bricklayer” Benedek’s first person account of his time during our 2022 Senegal project. Benedek is now a three time school builder, having recently returned this spring from our project in Hardahani, Nepal.
The Current School
The school currently has 5 grades offered; grade 1 – grade 5. The current enrollment of 193 pupils (96 boys and 97 girls) is up from the previous enrollment of 106 pupils in 2022. The two permanent classrooms (from our 2022 project) are complemented by two temporary classrooms (that need improvement). The pupils in 2nd grade and 4th grade share a classroom.
The original grades offered when we built the first project in 2022 were 1st and 2nd grades – so the school has added three additional grades and the number of teachers has gone from 2 to 5. In 2023, the community worked with our NGO partner buildOn to help 19 out of school children enroll back in school. What terrific progress since the community built its first classrooms in October 2019 from sticks and straw.
Our Supporters
We cannot do this work without our successful fundraising efforts from people like yourself. For our 2022 project in Senegal, Team Dayā received $250 from Mark Copple, then a senior at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, California, who had collected 5,000 deposit bottles and cans to raise the funds. In 2022, we also received a $10,000 matching challenge from U of Digital and its CEO Shiv Gupta for our Senegal school building. No matter what the level, we depend on your financial support.
Please consider supporting our Team Dayā 2024 Senegal team. We cannot build these schools without your support. Example investment opportunities:
- $100 Five shovels for excavating the school’s 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 Builds a school
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, construction in progress]
- Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [scheduled]
- Sunday, December 1, 2024 – Guatemala (arrive Guatemala City) [spots available]
If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen.
