(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Riley Jacobson addresses the community during the welcome ceremony in Nchetana, Malawi.)
While we did help our community by building a school with the locals, we got more out of the experience than our hosts. It was truly a life-changing experience that will be forever embedded in my heart.
We carried buckets of sand and water to the work site, dug a hole for the toilet, mixed cement, and laid the cement. By the time we left, the toilet was almost completely dug out and we had built the foundation of the school. There was never a dull moment during the week building the school. The community women taught us many songs to raise our spirits that motivated us to work harder.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā memeber Riley Jacobson (far right) with her homestay family.)
When not working, we spent time with the children teaching them games like Connect Four, Jenga and Uno. The biggest hit was soccer, we played with the kids and they would play for hours and hours.
Our living quarters were mats on a mud floor in a dark room. The community had no electricity or running water. Our shower consisted of a bucket of water and a cup, and our toilet was a hole in the ground. It was quite an experience and well worth it when we saw the passion to learn in the hearts of our community.
(VIDEO: Team Dayā 2023 Malawi: a school building week in 30 seconds by team member Riley Jacobson.)
Overall, this experience put into perspective how much of the world lives today. It was truly an enlightening journey that I hope has made a positive impact on Malawi.
I am excited to continue supporting Team Daya and buildOn now that I am in charge of international projects for the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club at my high school. It’s not too late to donate.
Being Jay Sears’ wife, I have witnessed Team Dayā from its inception. I had heard Jay talk about his work building the first three schools. Finally, the timing seemed to be perfect for me to join on the fourth Team Dayā build this summer in Malawi. Even though I had heard him talk about what it was like to be on a school build, actually being there is unlike anything I have ever experienced.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Jay Sears and Lauren Rosen.)
After landing in Lilongwe, Malawi, we spent the first night in a hotel. I met the other Team Dayā members and learned some basic sayings in Chichewa, the language the people spoke who lived in the village of Nchetana, where we would be building a school for 5th and 6th graders.
The next day, we drove to Nchetana and even though I had been told what to expect both from our local trek leaders and Jay, as our van drove slowly down a very remote road and was suddenly met by hundreds of people, I was still overcome with emotion. It felt like the whole village was meeting us, waving tree branches, singing the song we had learned, and smiling big, broad, welcoming smiles.
(PHOTO: In Nchetana, visitors are greeted by song.)
Stepping out of the van, being surrounded by people and tons of children who are truly so happy to see you feels like something I have never experienced before. As we were engulfed by the people and made our way into the center of the village, you could see the people were surprised and impressed that we were humbly trying to join them in singing. Smiles were exchanged and during the ceremony, we introduced ourselves in Chichewa, and the week had officially begun.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Lauren Rosen (left) and Kerri Olson (right) with their host family in Nchetana.)
Staying in the village and talking with the families, both the adults and children, was a major highlight for me. While most of it was through a translator, there were plenty of times through either broken English or pantomiming, I was still able to communicate. Yes, it was uncomfortable to be without electricity and running water, but I got over it almost instantly. Paying attention to the rhythm of the days and quickly adjusting became easy. I had wondered to myself before arriving, ‘what happens when the sun sets at 6:00pm; do they really go to bed at 8:00pm’? When you are in it, the answers become obvious.
The days begin for the family I stayed with around 5:00 am. I could hear them rustling and while I am not a morning person, by 5:45/6:00 am, I was ready to get up. The sun was up and the day was beginning.
Quick wash-up, getting dressed and walking over to our “headquarters” for breakfast and to join the fellow Team Dayā members became a nice beginning to the day. Instant coffee and a simple breakfast never tasted so good.
We met the villagers who were going to be working with us by 8:00am for “morning stretches” that team members helped to lead with the local villagers. Then we took turns rotating through the chores.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Lauren Rosen on the worksite in Nchetana.)
It was hard work. I exercise almost every day, and this was much harder. Wielding a shovel to dig a hole, carrying a large bucket filled with water or sand or gravel or even bricks, building a foundation with cement blocks and/or filling them with concrete or gravel – muscles I didn’t know I had were tapped.
Afternoons were filled with opportunities to talk with the adults, learn about their customs, ask questions, share stories and play games with the children. Even though it may seem on the surface that our lives are so different, the reality is they are not.
Children want to win the games and they are curious about you but honestly, they just want to play and laugh with you. The parents want many of the same things that we all want: a chance for their children to be successful, a chance for their children to have it easier than they did, and an investment in the future generation. They hope that with a proper school building, more children will stay in school through 8th grade. How humbling to realize what we take for granted…
Late afternoons and early evenings were filled with various forms of “showers” (to be honest, mine were a little more elaborate wash-ups than the morning wash-ups, and yes, my baseball hat stayed on my head for the week!) before dinner with the team. Then there was unstructured time with either team members or our hosts or various other people from the village. There was talking, sharing stories, asking questions and (always) learning.
By 8:00pm (yes!) I was ready for bed and reading on my mat on the floor of our host’s house with my headlamp. Along with our host family, everyone was usually asleep by 9:00pm.
I was mostly impressed with the women. They seemed to do all the heavy lifting (in my mind, both emotionally and physically) – and a lot of them even did it with a baby strapped to their backs. They carried these huge buckets filled with water or sand or gravel or bricks on their heads with ease. While I tried to mimic them, it felt impossible. I shuffled the bucket between my head, one arm, then the other arm, then both arms, then repeated my efforts.
The best part was the breaks; the women broke into song and dance and we just laughed and laughed as we all tried to mimic their dance motions and sing along with them. It made the work so much more fun.
It is difficult to describe in words what the experience of being part of Team Dayā is really like. If you are looking for something out of the box, an opportunity to grow and expand your viewpoint, as well as be part of something that is bigger than yourself, I strongly encourage you to join Team Dayā.
Not only will you make a huge difference in the lives of many people, but you will experience something internally that I imagine is hard to find in many other experiences. And oh yeah, you get to be part of a team of truly amazing people and share an experience that will impact you in ways you never imagined.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Kerri Olson with her father and sister near their home in Blantyre, Malawi in the 70s.)
When Jay Sears asked if I would like to join a team headed to Malawi to build a primary school, there was only one right answer. My family and I had lived in Blantyre, Malawi when I was very young. It is the place that holds my earliest childhood memories, and I had never been back.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Kerri Olson and her sister in the town of Nkhotakota, Malawi in the 70s.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Kerri Olson with her mother and sister on a ferry in Malawi in the 70s.)
I remember my father saying that the most rewarding part of his job in the U.S. Embassy in the early 1970s was working with rural Malawian communities to help them build a primary school for the children in their community. I knew that this was the perfect opportunity for me to finally go back to Malawi, and to give back to a country that was so important to my family.
(VIDEO: Team Dayā member Kerri Olson on the worksite in Malawi.)
What stood out to me immediately was the similarity between the model used by Team Dayā and the partnership model from 50 years ago that my Dad had described. Today, around 70% of Malawians live in extreme poverty. Over the past 50 years, the population of Malawi has grown from five million to 20 million people, which means that there is an even greater need now for more schools to ensure that every child in Malawi has the opportunity for an education that can help lift their community out of poverty.
The community where we built our school was chosen by Team Dayā’s Malawi-based partner buildOn. The village of Nchetana showed their commitment to education by agreeing to provide land, labor and local materials including supplying the bricks needed to construct the school. They also committed to sending equal numbers of boys and girls to school.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Kerri Olson signs the covenant, an agreement codifying the school building partnership between the community, Team Dayā, buildOn and local education authorities. Team Dayā members Nicolle Pangis, Vib Prasad and Chevan Nanayakkara look on.)
Using funds raised by Team Dayā, buildOn supplied the engineer and skilled laborers to assist in construction, and purchased materials such as the roof, doors, windows and desks. Once the school is completed, the teachers will be provided by the Malawian Ministry of Education.
On July 1st our team of eight made our way to Malawi. Landing at Lilongwe airport in the middle of the night, what first struck me was how dark the landscape was, even near the capital city. Overall, only about 15% of Malawians have access to electricity, and in rural areas that drops to 5%. Despite the late hour and our very delayed arrival, we were warmly greeted by our local trek leader Vitu, who made us feel so welcome.
The next day, we headed north to the region of Kasungu, where we met the rest of our Malawi-based buildOn team. We had a Chichewa language lesson and cultural orientation, and went shopping at the local market to buy chitenjes, traditional long skirts that we would wear for the opening ceremony in the community.
Full of excitement, the next day we headed for Nchetana, a rural community about an hour from Kasungu town. As we turned down the dirt road that leads to the community, we were greeted by hundreds of children, singing and smiling and waving branches. They escorted us all the way to their school, where the whole community was waiting. After lots of singing and dancing and speeches, everyone signed a covenant and we broke ground. With formalities concluded, we were introduced to our host families, and settled in.
Each morning, after group stretches and songs with the assembled workforce, the workday would begin. Tasks we all shared included: digging the foundation and latrines, carrying bricks from the kiln, carrying buckets of sand from a dry streambed outside the village, and lugging buckets of water.
All work was done manually, mostly using the villagers’ own farming tools, and there wasn’t a machine in sight. The women of the community taught us how to carry our loads in their traditional way, using buckets balanced on our heads. It was humbling to discover that they could carry twice as much weight as we could, often with their babies on their backs, and always singing and dancing while they worked to encourage each other.
After the workday was over, we would spend the afternoon experiencing and learning about life in the community. One of the highlights was playing games with the children. We brought Jenga, Connect 4 and Uno, games which are easy to play even with a language barrier. Children would crowd onto the small front porch of our hosts’ home, and we had fun playing together and practicing our Chichewa phrases with the kids, while they shyly tried out the English phrases they’ve been learning in school.
By the third day of construction, we were already laying cinder blocks and applying mortar, and the walls were taking shape. I was amazed at how streamlined the process was and how quickly construction can progress with so many motivated helpers. Too soon, it was time for Team Dayā to leave, but the work will continue at an impressive pace. With at least 30 community members working 6 days a week, the school block should be finished within 8 weeks.
Currently, school only goes up to 6th grade in Nchetana. Approximately 100 5th and 6th graders have lessons sitting on the dirt floor of a straw structure with a very leaky thatched roof. Once the new school block is completed, the greatly improved learning conditions for Grades 5 and 6 will almost certainly result in increased enrollment, bringing back children who had previously dropped out of school. And crucially, the community will be able to use the old straw structure to extend the school to 7th and 8th grade, thereby providing a path to secondary school and future opportunities both inside and outside the village.
One of the most memorable parts of the experience was at the end of our time in Kasungu, when we visited a nearby village that had completed their new school in March. It was so exciting to see the enthusiasm in the community, where primary school enrollment has already risen from 700 to 1,000 children.
Additionally, the new building has enabled them to start adult literacy classes with buildOn’s help. One hundred and seventy adults who didn’t have a chance to go to school when they were young are now learning reading, writing and basic math. We could clearly see how education is already creating a cycle of change in this community and how it can help lift them out of poverty. That cycle is now underway in Nchetana too, with the new school block that Team Dayā and its supporters helped build. For everyone on Team Dayā, it was a powerful, joyful, and unforgettable experience to be part of this process of Building Change.
