Category Archives: Team Dayā Updates

Meet the Team Dayā 2024 Senegal Team

(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

Halfway in Hardahani, A Community Building Change

(PHOTO: Community members of Hardahani, Nepal working on their new three room schoolhouse.)

Progress Building Change.

The community of Hardahani, Nepal in the Kailali District of the Western Terai is halfway there. Two months since the groundbreaking of the sixth Team Dayā school (and the second school project in Nepal) much progress has been made in the construction of the new three room schoolhouse and new boys and girls latrines. It typically takes 3-4 months to complete a project.

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).

Photos showing progress over the last sixty days:

Beyond funding from Team Dayā supporters, the development methodology is an “all hands in” model with commitments from the community (equal access for girls and boys, all manual labor from community members, land and local materials); local education and government support (ongoing support for teachers and materials); and Team Dayā NGO partner buildOn (community selection, project oversight, skilled labor and project delivery).

Team Dayā could not have done this without our 2024-Nepal team (new members Michel deRijkPurwa Jain, Shyam Karki, Ruth RafalovichLauren RoseSean TanAlex Yang along with returning members Mike BenedekHead of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen and Founder Jay Sears), corporate support from SecurityPal and the support of our 1,000+ donors around the world.

(VIDEO: This shows the first week of construction of the new three room schoolhouse in Hardahani, Nepal. By contrast, you can see the progress after just 60 days in the photos just above.)

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.

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

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 and read a few of the first person accounts written by team members

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā

Talking About Building Change @ DMS by LUMA

Team Dayā spent Tuesday, May 14, 2024 with 400 of its friends and supporters at the DMS by LUMA conference in New York City. During the lunch hour, Team Dayā members Jay Sears, Nicolle Pangis and Michael Benedek spoke about the group’s work Building Change by raising funds and constructing primary schools in some of the most impoverished places in the world.

Then LUMA’s Terry Kawaja conducted a live auction for a round of golf at Bel-Air Country Club (donated by Andy Batkin of Duration Media), a private plane tour around Manhattan (donated by David Kohl of TrustX) and appearances in Terry’s next Cannes parody video!

Read the letter from Terry Kawaja and LUMA Partners and please join their drive to raise $40,000 to construct one of the future Team Dayā schools. You can donate here.

(VIDEO: Terry Kawaja of LUMA Partners talks about charity partner Team Dayā @ DMS by LUMA conference.)

Watch the Team Dayā presentation, and if you are curious to learn more, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. You can also read Nicolle’s first person account of our school build in Malawi and Mike’s account of our Senegal build.

Read the letter from Terry Kawaja and LUMA Partners and please join their drive to raise $40,000 to construct one of the future Team Dayā schools. You can donate here.

The presentation: