Category Archives: Senegal

In Two Weeks: Expansion of Our Senegal School

(PHOTO: Students in one of the classrooms financed by Team Dayā in 2022.)

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.”

(VIDEO: Team Dayā Senegal 2022: Chief Khokhan Nolong of Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal expresses the community’s thanks for the new school building.)

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

(VIDEO: The 2022 Team Dayā school. The temporary classrooms built from sticks and straw can be seen in the background off to the right side.)

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.

Meet the Team Dayā 2024 Senegal Team

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(PHOTO: *Team Dayā in Senegal in 2022 with Chief Khokhan Nolong of Nguiddine Keur Sara after signing the covenant governing the school building.*)

Our Senegal ‘24 team is composed of four individuals from across the world whose work will make a difference to girls and boys, their families and their community in the Fatick region of Senegal. Senegal currently ranks 168 out of 189 countries on the UN Human Development Index. Nearly half of all Senegalese over the age of 15 are illiterate and more than 6 million (38 percent of the total population) are living below the poverty line of $1.90 a day.

Please consider supporting Team Dayā. 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

Meet our Senegal ‘24 team and please consider supporting them. All contributions go directly to the school building. Team members pay all their own travel costs.

Returning Team Members

ARIK. Hasan “Trust & Transparency” Arik is a founding partner of Team Dayā and an alumni of multiple school builds including our 2022 Senegal project. He is CEO at Redmill Solutions in London and has worked at Mediacom and GroupM. Donate.

SEARS. Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears will be headed to Senegal, his second project in the country. In addition to running Team Dayā and the local community news site MyRye.com in his hometown, Jay has worked at Tentrr, Mastercard, Rubicon Project, Pulsepoint, ContextWeb, EDGAR Online and Wolff New Media. Donate.

New Team Members

INGALLS. Terra Ingalls has 15 years of publisher/retail media, adtech, and agency experience, leading teams at WPP and Publicis/Epsilon. She is motivated by the opportunity to set an example for her nine year old son: “I want to show him how important it is to help others when we can, and there’s no better way to teach these things to your children, than by doing it yourself.” Donate.

WYREMBAK. Paul Wyrembak serves as the Senior Director of Product at Symitri and the Head of Technical Operations at TRUSTX. He previously worked at PadSquad, and was Co-Founder of Dantech Systems. He is a co-worker of Team Dayā’s head of recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. Wyrembak “realized early on that hard work and determination are only minor components in the criteria that determine one’s “success.” Sometimes, it requires a display of kindness, empathy, or gratitude.” Donate.

Please consider supporting Team Dayā. 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.

Team Dayā School in Senegal is Complete

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The Team Dayā school in Nguiddine Keur Sara in the Fatick region of Senegal is complete! Previously operating from two temporary classrooms made from millet stalks, sticks, leaves and cardboard, the community’s 100+ first, second and third graders now enjoy a proper, permanent school building.

(PHOTO: Fatou Gueye and her father Waly Gueye in the new school in Nguindine Keur Sara.)

Waly Gueye is the father of four boys and four girls, who all attend Nguindine Keur Sara’s primary school. He has expressed that he does not want his kids to experience the same problems he encountered which resulted from his lack of formal education.

“I never had peace of mind when my children attended classes in the temporary shelter because of the dangers that were there. The classrooms were very dangerous because of the scorpions, plus there was no door so the cows and donkeys would often roam around inside. The heat and the wind would also make them sick,” he revealed.

Fatou Gueye, age nine, is one of Mr. Gueye’s daughters. Her favorite subject is math and she would like to become a teacher when she is older. She is very happy with the new classrooms and their beautiful desks, blackboards, and cement floor. Before the construction of the new school block, Fatou was not motivated to attend classes due to the frustrating conditions.

“The dust in the old school made me cough a lot,” recalls Fatou.

Fatou and her dad are very grateful for the gift that Team Dayā and its non-profit partner buildOn have brought to their community. On behalf of the whole community they would like to thank Team Dayā for changing the children of Nguindine Keur Sara’s lives forever.

(VIDEO: Students of Nguiddine Keur Sara send thanks to Team Dayā supporters for their new school. You can see the old school build from millet stalks in the far background.)

The Build

After the school groundbreaking in March, building continued though May. The students were able to move in and enjoy their new school at the end of their year before their summer recess of July, August and September. The school has two classrooms as well as a separate structure with a girls and boys latrine.

(BEFORE: In a classroom made from millet stalks, sticks, leaves and cardboard.)

True Collaboration

Team Dayā and its non-profit partner buildOn built this school alongside the community of Nguindine Keur Sara. The community contributed the land and natural resources such as sand, water, and gravel to the project. A Project Leadership Committee consisting of six men and six women from Nguindine Keur Sara were selected to oversee the school build.

(VIDEO: A Project Leadership Committee member from Nguindine Keur Sara explains the importance of the school during the school groundbreaking in March.)

“Being the only woman who knows how to read and write in this community makes me feel that education is the key for opportunity – that education is the key that opens any door in this world,” said one of the women on the Project Leadership Committee via a translator during the school groundbreaking in March.

These incredible leaders not only helped to collect supplies, they also organized crews to volunteer on the worksite each day. By the end of the project, the men and women of Nguindine Keur Sara had proudly contributed 1,340 volunteer work days to the building of their new school.

More reading:

A thank you from Chief Khokhan Nolong.

Michael “The Bricklayer” Benedek on Building (hopefully) the First of Many Schools.

Please consider a donation so Team Dayā can continue its work. Three Ways You Can Help:

Make a Donation Online
- 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
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, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
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.

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā